You can never stand still in business or you risk being left behind by your competitors, but there can often be some obstacles that are blocking your path to future prosperity, all of which are often negotiable if you know how to get around them.
Being able to get what your business needs in terms of new equipment is just one challenge that you have to find a way to face up to and if you can learn from others that have been there before you it could give you the vision to succeed.
Here are some pointers on how to clear some common hurdles that might be stunting your business growth.
Coping with change
As your business evolves and attempts to grow it will become abundantly clear that you can’t always rely on the same format that has got you to this point so far.
Businesses tend to become more complex as they grow and that means you will have to implement strategies that deal with challenges such as communication problems when there are more people in your team.
Innovation can be harder to implement when you have a rigid system that hasn’t changed from how it used to be in the beginning and this is why you need to consider ways to pull everyone in the same direction if you want to enjoy a smoother path to growth.
Not keeping an eye on cash flow
A growing business is always going to be hungry for cash and if you don’t plan for the financial strain that you might be under as the company expands it could easily derail your plans in a very short space of time.
Cash flow issues are a primary cause of business failure and it doesn’t have to be a lack of turnover that causes your cash crisis, as growth spurts are equally challenging to your survival if you don’t manage them properly.
Make sure you have an accurate cash flow forecasting system and use it to predict exactly how much cash you will need at any time to fund your growth.
When you need more equipment
Whether you are running a manufacturing business or operating in the service industry it is likely that you will need to acquire more equipment in order to cope with increasing demand and a growing payroll.
Look at efficient ways to get your hands on these new items and to upgrade your old stock. This could be achieved by browsing auction sites to see if you get the equipment you need for less, and sell what you no longer need.
You might also want to look at arrange equipment finance to help fund your growth plans.
When you fail to plan, you plan to fail
There is a lot of truth in this old business adage and the bottom line is that you can’t expect to overcome any obstacles in your way if you don’t create a viable business plan that shows you how to navigate your way through these stormy waters.
If you set some realistic goals and produce a credible blueprint for success you should find that your path to achieving business growth has a few fewer bumps in the road.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/up-2081170_1280.jpg7201280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-10-25 07:00:482019-10-25 01:52:21Industry Insights: What are the Top 4 Obstacles That Prevent Business Growth?
It’s never too late to make a career change, but choosing when to make the jump isn’t a decision to be taken lightly. If you’re not happy in your current line of work, you need to think about whether you just need a new job or whether it’s time to take your career in a new direction altogether.
Do you find yourself complaining about your job all the time? Do you find yourself unhappy at work, regardless of which company you work for? If your family are fed up of listening to you complain about why your job is terrible and you find yourself searching for truck driving jobs instead of working, it’s a clear sign that all is not well and it might be time for a new challenge.
Are you more stressed than usual? All jobs have some amount of stress occasionally, but if you’re stressed most days at work, this isn’t good. If you find yourself taking your stress home with you and you’re struggling to shake it throughout the evening, a change is probably a good idea.
Are you bored at work? If you’re struggling to find any motivation to get any work done and are procrastinating in order to put off large tasks, there’s probably a problem. Your job might not always be fun, but if you’re bored all the time, make a jump to something new.
Have you been in the same job for a long time? Most jobs naturally change and grow over time, or your career should progress. If you’ve been stuck in the same position for a long time and have no real idea of where you want or should try to go upwards to, you might have exhausted your interest in your career path. If you’re struggling to make a plan for progression that interests you, this is a good sign that its time to move on to something new.
Do you dread going to work? If when you wake up in the morning, you immediately start dreading getting to work, this is a clear sign that you should be moving on. If this dread is creeping into your Sunday nights too, don’t hang on any longer than you have to and instead try to make a switch to something that keeps you excited and interested.
Do you think about quitting a lot of the time? If you’re forever drafting your resignation letter or fantasizing about how you’ll tell your boss you’re quitting, then you should start seriously looking for something else. We all have bad days at work, but if everyday you think about when you can quit, you shouldn’t stay.
Are you feeling burned out and tired? If you’re tired out all the time, it could be fatigue caused by work stress. If you’re overworked, you could easily end up becoming burned out. Burn out can occur when your job has become too demanding for you, or you can’t shake off work based stress. Burn out can become very nasty, so if you feel this coming on, it’s time to step out and move on to something else.
Are you under-performing at work? If you’ve lost interest in your job, it can be very hard to motivate yourself, meaning your performance might slip. If you’re struggling to concentrate at work, this won’t help your job performance either. You can also guarantee that if you’re away that your job performance is sliding, then your boss is probably noticing that something is wrong too. It might be better to take the step to leave your job and do something before you get pushed out for poor performance. It will be much easier to find something new if you left your last job on good terms instead of being fired.
Are you finding excuses not to go to work? If work is the last place you want to be, you’re probably finding all kinds of excuses to do anything else. Perhaps you’re taking more sick days than usual, or have booked a lot more vacation days than you normally take, or are asking to work from home more often, this is a clear sign that you’re unhappy in your current job.
Making a career change is a big leap, but you can do it. If your career isn’t fulfilling anymore, then a change of job might not be enough to help. A new line of work can push you to develop new skills, leaving you a lot happier in the long run.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/direction-255294_1280.jpg7531280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-10-24 09:00:302019-10-24 01:46:35Nine Signs It’s Time For A Career Change
Politicians of any experience and caliber love to talk about tax reform. Why should you care? As you already know, tax reform is a change in the current tax code. That includes the way taxes are collected as well as the amount of taxes you will pay. The keyword here is “you”. You are the taxpayer and therefore any change in the current taxation system will have a direct effect on you. Another reason to stay informed about any changes in the tax law is the change in the way taxes are managed and distributed after they have been collected. Your money will be managed by the local or federal government. The way it is done and the places your tax money will be designated to will have a major effect on you on many different levels. If you want to learn more about how tax changes will affect you, go to juliogonzalez.com or read more below.
What are some of these effects?
If the current tax code is simplified enough, you may be able to get your own tax return done. That translates into a few hundred dollars savings annually directly to you. Being able to understand the taxation rules and regulations will give you the confidence to file on your own. If you currently hire a professional out of fear to make a costly mistake, you will be able to save that fee by doing it yourself.
The major goal of any tax reform is to improve and streamline tax collecting processes. Depending on what exactly is changed, you may see effects like lower taxes that you have to pay. As a business owner, you may experience a change in the way you can make business expense deductions. As a homeowner, you may get more or fewer rebates for energy-efficient improvements done at your house.
Tax reform would also call for language simplification when dealing with the IRS. The plain language throughout will help you understand exactly what you are dealing with.
Tax reform will provide taxpayers with the necessary tools to plan ahead. It is especially valuable for self-employed people. The current code already has some tools on how to estimate the amount you will end up paying at the end of the year. However, more improvements will allow you to estimate your tax goals. You will be able to enter your goals like “pay zero” or “get a return” and see how much you will need to put in to meet a certain goal.
Tax reform will provide you with the tools to foresee and prepare for a tax bill or avoid paying a penalty. As we know, the current IRS administration is often ineffective when helping its main customers. Most people don’t feel like figuring it all out on their own. Tax reform will provide more resources for the current IRS. As more webinars by the IRS on how to use the system become available, you will be able to use those tools and save more time and money.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/income-tax-491626_1280-1.jpg8531280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-10-24 08:00:172019-10-24 01:03:19How do tax changes affect you?
When we shop online, we are hoping for the best case scenario that the items will reach our doorstep in the condition it is dispatched. Whether domestic or international shipping, ecommerce clients’ customers care less about the ecommerce fulfillment companies businesses choose to use but expect prompt and quality delivery or else they will gladly ruin the reputation of the online store.
An online business in need of making deliveries therefore needs a reliable ecommerce fulfillment that will handle client’s goods with care and deliver in good time. That’s where we come in.
Why hire third party e-commerce fulfillment companies
Hiring third party for logistics is always more efficient and economical for both businesses and their customers. A trusted fulfillment company, such as www.aerofulfillment.com, will have all the right connections to ship domestically and abroad. In house logistics are not only ineffective to do on large scale and over long distance but also cost a small fortune. Your startup business may not be ready for the ballooning costs of establishing a full scale ecommerce with deliveries.
Choosing a reliable fulfillment agency
For any online business, choosing the best order fulfillment is a make or break moment. Customers do not care much about the third party company and will put all the blame on you if things go south. With speedy deliveries, you can meet exceed your customer’s expectation and get positive reviews. Among the key things that influence customer sentiments is the time they have had to wait for the product.
Benefits we afford our ecommerce partner businesses
Our clients enjoy the freedom of not having to worry about setting up in house logistics at all and the bandwidth to expand their sales volumes. We also use the latest technology to manage our platform which makes it reliable and easy to integrate into any ecommerce business.
With shorter turnaround, you are likely to get moderate ratings even when customers were not pleased with their purchase and have had to send it back. Not to mention it could cost you a fortune to replace damaged goods.
With a premium fulfillment company like ours, you can make efficient and timely deliveries with items in sound condition. Being able to meet customer demands is positively rewarding for ecommerce and the failure to do so can irreversibly damage a brand’s reputation online and offline.
One big advantage that small businesses under our wing are currently enjoying is the ability to grow income by expanding their reach to customers with prompt deliveries. The beauty of hassle-free delivery is that we make it look super easy for both the client and their customers even though it’s not.
We help you to transform what would otherwise be a fixed cost (warehousing) into a variable cost of doing business.
You can then use the savings to invest in better facilities for your businesses. You can depend on our expertise because we do just this.
Let our superb deliveries become an integral part of your customer shopping experience. We will let you take the credit for our speedy and quality delivery. We not only make deliveries efficiently but also process returns from customers back to your warehouse in a timely fashion. We do just this and it is best if you too can specialize in what you are best at selling. We are here to partner for mutual growth. In us, you will find a trusted listening and caring partner.
Join a fulfillment logistics partner you can trust.
The bottom line is that many small and medium-sized businesses remain without the resources required to make deliveries across the country and globally. In this age when ecommerce is thriving, you can save your time to expand your business rather than focus on setting up a fulfillment platform as we have already done that for you.
To be able to trust us with such a vital part of your business, we will gladly refer you to our longest active clients for consultation. Our success with their ventures might be the indication you need to trust our ability to grow side by side with our partners.
If you think we are the fulfillment specialists and partner you need to be successful in your ecommerce venture then don’t hesitate to reach us. We have stored, sorted and moved all items types, sizes and worked with various industries. Contact us today.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/ikea-2714998_1280.jpg7201280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-10-24 07:00:482019-10-24 00:56:59A Detailed Look at E-Commerce Fulfillment
Bringing a product to market can be a very time consuming and expensive process making it inaccessible to many budding entrepreneurs and inventors, but could 3d printing be about to change that? Could 3D printing revolutionise the way we create prototypes?
What is 3D printing?
Most people will be familiar with their at-home 2D ink printer, which creates an image by injecting ink onto a flat paper surface. Well, a 3D printer works in much the same way except rather than using ink, it uses a malleable material such as plastic, and instead of creating a 2D picture it creates a 3D model. A helpful way to visualise a 3D printer is as a robotic hot glue gun that instead of quirting glue squirts plastic.
How does 3D printing work?
In the same way that a conventional ink printer requires a digital version of whatever it is going to print, so does a 3D printer. 3D printing always begins with a CAD generated 3D digital model, this 3D model is then sliced by a programme into thin 2D layers, these are the layers that the 3D printer will print, one at a time onto the print surface, collectively forming a 3D model. Some 3D models require support whilst they harden and so the slicing programme will also add in supports and lattices which adds strength to any hollow parts of particularly fragile parts og the model.
The exact way that each 3D printer creates a model can vary from model to model, but they tend to rely on the same principles. Whereas a desktop FDM printer will melt a plastic filament and lay it down onto the print platform through a nozzle, a larger industrial machine may use lasers to melt thin layers of plastic or plastic powders.
For the most part, 3D printers tend to create models using plastic, as plastic is a versatile material that comes in many colours, densities and textures and is relatively cheap to source. There are, however, some 3D printers that can work with more complex materials such as metal and protein, and in the healthcare sector, there are even 3D printers learning to print using human cells. 3D printing technology is advancing extremely rapidly and so although the technology may be limited to a handful of materials now, it is estimated that you will be able to print in any number of different materials in the near future.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of 3D printing?
3D printing is an alternative manufacturing method to traditional subtractive or formative manufacturing. It comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, which are outlined below:
The advantages of 3D printing
Faster prototype creation
Depending on the size of the model and the type of printer used the printing process usually takes between 4 to 18 hours. This is drastically quicker than other prototyping methods.
Lower start-up costs
Compared to the cost of creating a unique mould for a formative manufacturing process which can cost many thousands, 3D printing is extremely cheap, needing only the cost of the material printed and the time of the printer. This makes it a great alternative for people looking for lower-cost prototypes and unique one-off parts.
Greater customisation
Because of the cost associated with creating moulds, it is often not possible to create multiple iterations of a prototype. 3D printing, however, makes it possible to create custom pieces at little extra cost, with only the 3D design image needing to be replaced, you can create as many prototypes as you like.
Cheap creation of complex geometrical shapes
Creating a mould for a complicated geometric shape can be very costly which can limit the kinds of prototypes people can afford to build. Thankfully, the additive nature of 3D printing means that it is equipped to handle even the most complex geometric shapes at no extra cost, opening the doors for more complicated product ideas.
The disadvantages of 3D printing
Lower tensile strength
Many 3D printed models have up to 50% less strength than those created with other manufacturing methods, this is largely due to the way in which 3D printers create products using a series of layers. This isn’t a huge problem for many prototypes but is still something to take into consideration.
3D printing is less cost-effective when printing higher volumes
Whereas 3D printing is a much cheaper alternative when dealing with one or two of a product it does begin to get more costly as the unit quantity increases and if you are planning on printing 100 or more of the same product then it may be cheaper to look at another method.
3D models require post-processing
Some 3D printed prototypes will require supports or lattice structures in order for the 3D printer to build them, these will need to be removed post-processing in order to generate a finished prototype. This can add on extra time and may also leave marks or blemishes on the final product.
Conclusion
Will 3D printing revolutionise prototyping. Quite simply, yes. For the first time, many entrepreneurs and product developers will have access to a technology that is cost-effective and versatile enabling them to create a prototype without raising investment in order to fund the process. Desktop 3D printers are now available for as little as a couple of hundred dollars, meaning that they can even be installed in-house, saving a huge amount of money on outsourcing to an external prototyping company. The speed of 3D printers also dramatically accelerates the prototyping process speeding up the route to market and enabling entrepreneurs to start profiting from their creations more quickly. As the 3D printing market continues to grow, and the materials available becoming more varied, more and more complex models will be able to be printed opening up a whole new world of possibilities for creative minds, making 3D printing a technology that many businesses can’t afford to ignore. If you have an idea and want to see it become a reality then there has been no better time to get started.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/printer-3956972_1280.jpg7431280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-10-23 09:00:302019-10-23 02:36:51Could 3D Printing Be About To Revolutionize The Way We Create Prototypes?
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Business Programs
Industry Insights: What are the Top 4 Obstacles That Prevent Business Growth?
/in Entrepreneurship/by StrategyDrivenBeing able to get what your business needs in terms of new equipment is just one challenge that you have to find a way to face up to and if you can learn from others that have been there before you it could give you the vision to succeed.
Here are some pointers on how to clear some common hurdles that might be stunting your business growth.
Coping with change
As your business evolves and attempts to grow it will become abundantly clear that you can’t always rely on the same format that has got you to this point so far.
Businesses tend to become more complex as they grow and that means you will have to implement strategies that deal with challenges such as communication problems when there are more people in your team.
Innovation can be harder to implement when you have a rigid system that hasn’t changed from how it used to be in the beginning and this is why you need to consider ways to pull everyone in the same direction if you want to enjoy a smoother path to growth.
Not keeping an eye on cash flow
A growing business is always going to be hungry for cash and if you don’t plan for the financial strain that you might be under as the company expands it could easily derail your plans in a very short space of time.
Cash flow issues are a primary cause of business failure and it doesn’t have to be a lack of turnover that causes your cash crisis, as growth spurts are equally challenging to your survival if you don’t manage them properly.
Make sure you have an accurate cash flow forecasting system and use it to predict exactly how much cash you will need at any time to fund your growth.
When you need more equipment
Whether you are running a manufacturing business or operating in the service industry it is likely that you will need to acquire more equipment in order to cope with increasing demand and a growing payroll.
Look at efficient ways to get your hands on these new items and to upgrade your old stock. This could be achieved by browsing auction sites to see if you get the equipment you need for less, and sell what you no longer need.
You might also want to look at arrange equipment finance to help fund your growth plans.
When you fail to plan, you plan to fail
There is a lot of truth in this old business adage and the bottom line is that you can’t expect to overcome any obstacles in your way if you don’t create a viable business plan that shows you how to navigate your way through these stormy waters.
If you set some realistic goals and produce a credible blueprint for success you should find that your path to achieving business growth has a few fewer bumps in the road.
Nine Signs It’s Time For A Career Change
/in Professional Development/by StrategyDrivenMaking a career change is a big leap, but you can do it. If your career isn’t fulfilling anymore, then a change of job might not be enough to help. A new line of work can push you to develop new skills, leaving you a lot happier in the long run.
How do tax changes affect you?
/in Managing Your Finances/by StrategyDrivenWhat are some of these effects?
If the current tax code is simplified enough, you may be able to get your own tax return done. That translates into a few hundred dollars savings annually directly to you. Being able to understand the taxation rules and regulations will give you the confidence to file on your own. If you currently hire a professional out of fear to make a costly mistake, you will be able to save that fee by doing it yourself.
The major goal of any tax reform is to improve and streamline tax collecting processes. Depending on what exactly is changed, you may see effects like lower taxes that you have to pay. As a business owner, you may experience a change in the way you can make business expense deductions. As a homeowner, you may get more or fewer rebates for energy-efficient improvements done at your house.
Tax reform would also call for language simplification when dealing with the IRS. The plain language throughout will help you understand exactly what you are dealing with.
Tax reform will provide taxpayers with the necessary tools to plan ahead. It is especially valuable for self-employed people. The current code already has some tools on how to estimate the amount you will end up paying at the end of the year. However, more improvements will allow you to estimate your tax goals. You will be able to enter your goals like “pay zero” or “get a return” and see how much you will need to put in to meet a certain goal.
Tax reform will provide you with the tools to foresee and prepare for a tax bill or avoid paying a penalty. As we know, the current IRS administration is often ineffective when helping its main customers. Most people don’t feel like figuring it all out on their own. Tax reform will provide more resources for the current IRS. As more webinars by the IRS on how to use the system become available, you will be able to use those tools and save more time and money.
A Detailed Look at E-Commerce Fulfillment
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenAn online business in need of making deliveries therefore needs a reliable ecommerce fulfillment that will handle client’s goods with care and deliver in good time. That’s where we come in.
Why hire third party e-commerce fulfillment companies
Hiring third party for logistics is always more efficient and economical for both businesses and their customers. A trusted fulfillment company, such as www.aerofulfillment.com, will have all the right connections to ship domestically and abroad. In house logistics are not only ineffective to do on large scale and over long distance but also cost a small fortune. Your startup business may not be ready for the ballooning costs of establishing a full scale ecommerce with deliveries.
Choosing a reliable fulfillment agency
For any online business, choosing the best order fulfillment is a make or break moment. Customers do not care much about the third party company and will put all the blame on you if things go south. With speedy deliveries, you can meet exceed your customer’s expectation and get positive reviews. Among the key things that influence customer sentiments is the time they have had to wait for the product.
Benefits we afford our ecommerce partner businesses
Our clients enjoy the freedom of not having to worry about setting up in house logistics at all and the bandwidth to expand their sales volumes. We also use the latest technology to manage our platform which makes it reliable and easy to integrate into any ecommerce business.
With shorter turnaround, you are likely to get moderate ratings even when customers were not pleased with their purchase and have had to send it back. Not to mention it could cost you a fortune to replace damaged goods.
With a premium fulfillment company like ours, you can make efficient and timely deliveries with items in sound condition. Being able to meet customer demands is positively rewarding for ecommerce and the failure to do so can irreversibly damage a brand’s reputation online and offline.
One big advantage that small businesses under our wing are currently enjoying is the ability to grow income by expanding their reach to customers with prompt deliveries. The beauty of hassle-free delivery is that we make it look super easy for both the client and their customers even though it’s not.
We help you to transform what would otherwise be a fixed cost (warehousing) into a variable cost of doing business.
You can then use the savings to invest in better facilities for your businesses. You can depend on our expertise because we do just this.
Let our superb deliveries become an integral part of your customer shopping experience. We will let you take the credit for our speedy and quality delivery. We not only make deliveries efficiently but also process returns from customers back to your warehouse in a timely fashion. We do just this and it is best if you too can specialize in what you are best at selling. We are here to partner for mutual growth. In us, you will find a trusted listening and caring partner.
Join a fulfillment logistics partner you can trust.
The bottom line is that many small and medium-sized businesses remain without the resources required to make deliveries across the country and globally. In this age when ecommerce is thriving, you can save your time to expand your business rather than focus on setting up a fulfillment platform as we have already done that for you.
To be able to trust us with such a vital part of your business, we will gladly refer you to our longest active clients for consultation. Our success with their ventures might be the indication you need to trust our ability to grow side by side with our partners.
If you think we are the fulfillment specialists and partner you need to be successful in your ecommerce venture then don’t hesitate to reach us. We have stored, sorted and moved all items types, sizes and worked with various industries. Contact us today.
Could 3D Printing Be About To Revolutionize The Way We Create Prototypes?
/in Innovation/by StrategyDrivenWhat is 3D printing?
Most people will be familiar with their at-home 2D ink printer, which creates an image by injecting ink onto a flat paper surface. Well, a 3D printer works in much the same way except rather than using ink, it uses a malleable material such as plastic, and instead of creating a 2D picture it creates a 3D model. A helpful way to visualise a 3D printer is as a robotic hot glue gun that instead of quirting glue squirts plastic.
How does 3D printing work?
In the same way that a conventional ink printer requires a digital version of whatever it is going to print, so does a 3D printer. 3D printing always begins with a CAD generated 3D digital model, this 3D model is then sliced by a programme into thin 2D layers, these are the layers that the 3D printer will print, one at a time onto the print surface, collectively forming a 3D model. Some 3D models require support whilst they harden and so the slicing programme will also add in supports and lattices which adds strength to any hollow parts of particularly fragile parts og the model.
The exact way that each 3D printer creates a model can vary from model to model, but they tend to rely on the same principles. Whereas a desktop FDM printer will melt a plastic filament and lay it down onto the print platform through a nozzle, a larger industrial machine may use lasers to melt thin layers of plastic or plastic powders.
For the most part, 3D printers tend to create models using plastic, as plastic is a versatile material that comes in many colours, densities and textures and is relatively cheap to source. There are, however, some 3D printers that can work with more complex materials such as metal and protein, and in the healthcare sector, there are even 3D printers learning to print using human cells. 3D printing technology is advancing extremely rapidly and so although the technology may be limited to a handful of materials now, it is estimated that you will be able to print in any number of different materials in the near future.
3D printing is an alternative manufacturing method to traditional subtractive or formative manufacturing. It comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, which are outlined below:
The advantages of 3D printing
Depending on the size of the model and the type of printer used the printing process usually takes between 4 to 18 hours. This is drastically quicker than other prototyping methods.
Compared to the cost of creating a unique mould for a formative manufacturing process which can cost many thousands, 3D printing is extremely cheap, needing only the cost of the material printed and the time of the printer. This makes it a great alternative for people looking for lower-cost prototypes and unique one-off parts.
Because of the cost associated with creating moulds, it is often not possible to create multiple iterations of a prototype. 3D printing, however, makes it possible to create custom pieces at little extra cost, with only the 3D design image needing to be replaced, you can create as many prototypes as you like.
Creating a mould for a complicated geometric shape can be very costly which can limit the kinds of prototypes people can afford to build. Thankfully, the additive nature of 3D printing means that it is equipped to handle even the most complex geometric shapes at no extra cost, opening the doors for more complicated product ideas.
The disadvantages of 3D printing
Many 3D printed models have up to 50% less strength than those created with other manufacturing methods, this is largely due to the way in which 3D printers create products using a series of layers. This isn’t a huge problem for many prototypes but is still something to take into consideration.
Whereas 3D printing is a much cheaper alternative when dealing with one or two of a product it does begin to get more costly as the unit quantity increases and if you are planning on printing 100 or more of the same product then it may be cheaper to look at another method.
Some 3D printed prototypes will require supports or lattice structures in order for the 3D printer to build them, these will need to be removed post-processing in order to generate a finished prototype. This can add on extra time and may also leave marks or blemishes on the final product.
Conclusion
Will 3D printing revolutionise prototyping. Quite simply, yes. For the first time, many entrepreneurs and product developers will have access to a technology that is cost-effective and versatile enabling them to create a prototype without raising investment in order to fund the process. Desktop 3D printers are now available for as little as a couple of hundred dollars, meaning that they can even be installed in-house, saving a huge amount of money on outsourcing to an external prototyping company. The speed of 3D printers also dramatically accelerates the prototyping process speeding up the route to market and enabling entrepreneurs to start profiting from their creations more quickly. As the 3D printing market continues to grow, and the materials available becoming more varied, more and more complex models will be able to be printed opening up a whole new world of possibilities for creative minds, making 3D printing a technology that many businesses can’t afford to ignore. If you have an idea and want to see it become a reality then there has been no better time to get started.