By Henry Cialone
President & CEO, EWI
Additive manufacturing. Though many manufacturers have heard this term, the phrase may not be well or widely understood. I’d like to change that. So let’s talk about what additive manufacturing (AM) is and what it can do.
What Is AM?
When we think of “manufacturing,” we typically think of traditional manufacturing (molding, casting, etc.), which is understandable, as it’s been the standard pretty much since the beginning of time. Traditional manufacturing starts with a piece of material that is then refined by removing bits and pieces through milling, turning, drilling — machining in one form or another — to achieve the desired form. This form of manufacturing is, technically speaking, subtractive manufacturing.
Additive manufacturing takes the opposite approach….