Abstract
Additive manufacturing is a disruptive technology that, besides reducing material, resource, and tool consumption, allows us to produce products with complex geometries and design freedom. However, the investments required for its adoption are considerable, and companies still wonder if and when the introduction of additive manufacturing is convenient from an economic viewpoint. The aim of this paper is to estimate unit product costs in additive manufacturing environments and compare them with those resulting from traditional manufacturing. For a more complete evaluation, the geometric possibilities offered by additive manufacturing are taken into consideration too in the analyses. In particular, three different manufacturing environments are selected for the cost comparison: (1) traditional manufacturing, (2) additive manufacturing, and (3) additive manufacturing while utilizing the design optimization via finite element simulations. Cost models for the three environments are developed and applied to three components produced in different sectors and batches: an automotive gear, a bottle blowing mould, and a hip prosthesis. The results show that, from an economic viewpoint, additive manufacturing can be a competitive solution, but only as far as the product volume is limited and the geometry is simple. When these conditions are not met, additive manufacturing becomes an extremely slow and expensive solution, making traditional techniques more suitable and convenient, especially with numerous batches.