As additive manufacturing proposes a new way of moving from ideas to products, the impact in terms of sustainability is potentially massive. However, it is with the introduction of strategies for additive manufacturing that we see an even greater impact.
Printing non-complex objects that could easily be produced in traditional manufacturing processes does not use the full extent of additive manufacturing. Yet, aligning business modeling with additive manufacturing creates the potential to substitute complete supply chains and their environmental impact.
Being able to use 3D printing is creating a new pathway for entrepreneurs balancing product development and business modeling. With additive manufacturing, scaling up from an idea to the first prototype to the actual product is accelerated in an agile and accessible way able to reduce the development sustainability footprint. Now, an entrepreneur can produce several iterations of the same product without losing time, without having to ship the prototypes around the world for evaluation and without middle-persons interpreting the order or the files.
We have made calculations of the different sustainability footprints for the four cases in the program. These show the impact of working with strategies for additive manufacturing. Contact us to know more.
The 4 cases presented are examples of ways to create a better, faster and more sustainable innovation process. This could be done with a thousand start-up’s in Denmark – and the potential for additive manufacturing and sustainable product development has never been greater.