Tooling

How to reduce tooling costs with advanced manufacturing

Tooling, or machine tooling, refers to the practice of providing a factory with the necessary equipment and tools for a particular process. It’s the umbrella that catches the raindrops of cutting tools, jigs, fixtures, gauges, dies, molds, and patterns. Each process is reliant on a specific set of tools that are rarely interchangeable and often expensive to reproduce. Any change in tooling has a direct impact on the production’s quantity, quality, and pricing, further impacting a business’ bottom line. 

Each tool on the production line can cost up to hundreds of dollars to replace, and often spare tool inventory is kept slim to manage towards profit.

Each method has its pros and cons - and often there are other parts of the process that you didn’t know about until you're deep in the weeds. It’s a classic “you don’t know what you don’t know” situation. We’ve compiled our best thinking and case studies here for you to jump start your journey. 

Jump to the section that interests you most:

• Can The Tooling Process Be A Hidden Money Saver In Your Business?
• Why 3D Scan? Here's 12 Real-World Examples For Engineers!
• How Do You 3D Print a Tortoise Shell?
• Reduce Your Tooling Costs with Advanced Manufacturing
• 3 Way To Grow Your Business With Additive Manufacturing; a webinar
• 3 Great Ways to Grow Your Business Using Additive Manufacturing; a white paper
• Take Control of Your Supply Chain with Advanced Manufacturing