Additive manufacturing industry still small but innovative

Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has been around for almost 30 years, but it has yet to make significant inroads as a viable option for manufacturers. One of the key questions surrounding the additive manufacturing industry at last week's Rapid+TCT conference is when to use 3D printing in manufacturing processes. At the Rapid+TCT conference, Jabil announced it added 12 new HP Jet Fusion 4210 industrial 3D printers to its network of facilities in the U.S., China, Hungary, Mexico, Spain, and Singapore. It also introduced the Jabil Additive Manufacturing Network, a software system that connects the 3D printing network with Jabil's SAP ERP systems, MES applications and other back-end systems. Read more in TechTarget about how Jabil's 3D printers in the Jabil network are focused on printing production parts, not prototypes, according to John Dulchinos, vice president of digital manufacturing.