[3D Printing Applications] How much is each minute worth in the manufacturing industry?

[3D Printing Applications] How much is each minute worth in the manufacturing industry?

Almost all major automakers, including Volkswagen Autoeuropa, have documented the benefits that 3D printing brings to their design and production processes, significantly reducing time and costs. To demonstrate the potential financial impact of 3D printing 's efficiency, Ultimaker recently studied the value per minute in the automotive industry; the initial findings are startling: the cost of manufacturing a car in the United States is $460,706 per minute or $1,110,663,840 per week.

Replicating the same formula and evaluating similar publicly available statistics, Ultimaker found that the cost of manufacturing in the US was $4,258,341 per minute, while revenue was $4,280,821. After deducting manufacturing costs alone, the profit per minute was a mere $22,480, not including other expenses. This extremely low profit margin demonstrates that even seemingly minor improvements in efficiency, such as 3D printing's ability to improve rapid prototyping , can have a significant impact on a company's profits.



Many well-known manufacturers have already benefited from 3D printing . For example, Jabil, one of the world’s largest manufacturing suppliers, has been using 3D printers at its Auburn Hills plant in Detroit, reducing production process time by 80% and mold costs by 30%.


3D printed flip-top license plates.

Jabil engineers learned early on that a machine shop taking three weeks to produce a tool—and up to two months for more complex parts—hindered their ability to innovate and customize products in a timely manner. To better serve their healthcare and industrial clients, they had to use 3D printing to accelerate production and reduce costs. As specialized 3D printers become the backbone of the industry, these rates will improve due to cost and time savings and overall efficiency.



The complete statistics are as follows: These averages are based on public data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), including the number of people employed in the U.S. manufacturing sector, the number of workers in manufacturing positions, and the average wages for these positions; in addition, overall economic data for the manufacturing sector are also included in the calculation.

Manufacturing costs (employees/wages combined) (in US dollars)
Weekly - 43,042,002,652
Daily - 6,132,011,337
- 255,500,472 per hour
- 4,258,341 per minute

Revenue from manufacturing (employees/wages combined) (in US dollars)
Weekly - 43,469,230,769
Daily - 6,164,383,562
- 256,849,315 per hour
4,280,822 per minute

Revenue and Profit (employees/salaries combined) (Unit: USD)
Weekly - 227,228,117
Daily - 32,372,225
- 1,348,843 per hour
22,480 per minute

Are you also surprised by the manufacturing cost per minute? If you are interested in 3D printing , you can refer to our other articles ; or if you would like to understand directly how the machine works, please feel free to contact us . We also provide high-quality printing services for prototypes and samples. We will continue to provide information on new technologies and applications related to 3D printing , so please follow us on Facebook for the latest news.