DPD 3yourmind partnership
DPD and 3YOURMIND announce partnership
3D printing service portal 3YOURMIND have announced a partnership with Dynamic Parcel Distribution in a bid to simplify the overall supply chain.
The collaboration is the latest of a trend in which logistic companies are integrating 3D printing into their everyday operations. As additive manufacturing has matured, its uses have expanded to the production floor. The software and hardware combinations make it possible to design a product and 3D print in a variety of materials with high resolution.
In terms of cost, additive manufacturing has already dropped below traditional production methods at low volume outputs. A shift that looks likely to continue.
As more businesses and individuals now own 3D printers, the transfer of goods is beginning to take place more in the digital space and less in the physical, meaning logistics companies need to alter the way they do business. DPD will leverage their wide-ranging delivery services to help 3YOURMIND meet the needs of customers, but both companies share a vision of 3D printing as a mobile service as well.
“3D printers are becoming more and more like small factories in terms of quality,” stated 3YOURMIND in a press release. “Now consider when those production facilities are fit into a shipping container. Full production studios can be shipped on demand to the locations where they are required using the existing logistical planning networks. With advances in stabilisation technology, those containers can become moving factories in the wagon of a train, a container on a truck, on a plane, producing high value custom objects while being delivered to the final destination.”
DPD
DPD
DPD Van
The collaboration will mean a network of mobile additive manufacturing centres with the capability to service numerous industries, that can even be rented by manufacturing companies to boost their production flow in peak production times.
In terms of reducing inventory, mobile 3D printing open other significant possibilities. 3YOURMIND use the case of a repair truck, responsible for servicing cars on roads. Instead of towing a broken car to the next garage to be repaired, often requiring significant waiting times while parts are ordered, a mobile 3D printing unit in the truck could print a spare part directly from a library of design files or even purchase from the manufacturer allowing the repair of the car onsite.
The collaboration between 3YOURMIND and DPD allows the logistics company to avoid falling behind in the new digital era.
