Economic Analysis of Additive Manufacturing Integration in Injection Molding Process Chain

The purpose of this research is to analyze how additive manufacturing can create value when it is utilized as a supportive technology to injection molding by quantifying the cost advantages that can be obtained. Tooling for the product development phase is investigated as pilot integration area of additive manufacturing with injection molding.

Cost considerations are discussed through the development of a cost estimation model. The study shows that integration of additive manufacturing in the product development phase for fabrication of soft tooling is economically convenient with a cost reduction of 79,8% and 89,9%. The cost models on additive manufacturing have been built so far on the idea of substituting injection molding with additive manufacturing.

In response to this literature gap, this research addresses the advantages of additive manufacturing utilized in a synergistic rather than disruptive way to create value in the injection molding process chain