Setting the Stage at MD&M West 2026: Additive Manufacturing on Demand

Proving Additive Manufacturing’s Sustainability Claims

Is it fair to say that additive manufacturing’s sustainability story has come a long way from anecdotal evidence and is moving toward hard metrics? How exactly are companies measuring environmental ROI delivered by additive manufacturing? After viewing the webinar above, we asked Sherri Munroe to weigh in on these and a few more queries.  

Machine Design: Based on the webinar Q&A session, there was one specific question I’d like to highlight for Machine Design’s design engineering audiences: How are companies quantifying the environmental benefits of switching from traditional manufacturing to smart 3D printing?

Sherri Munroe: This is a terrific question and, honestly, the answer is: not very well. Often the framework is a part-to-part comparison—both for economic cost and environmental impact. It seems reasonable at first, but that narrow lens often does not capture costs associated with traditional methods and does not account for the significant value potential of additive strategies.

Not only can additive produce more durable and better performing components, but these strategies can also reduce stranding inventories, obsolescence risks and distribution related impacts. Using old technology as a measuring stick for new technologies is like comparing a car to a horse by comparing the cost of gasoline to hay. We need to think bigger and in a strategic, enterprise-wide way.

MD: I also found an interesting comment on a LinkedIn post about an approach to the future with a “less myopic view of AM” and industry tending toward practices that leverage AM as it becomes normalized. Can you offer a recent example?

SM: Absolutely. Additive manufacturing allows tooling to be designed and produced much quicker, allowing companies to bring products to market faster and be more responsive to demand and shifting conditions.

For example, Pepsi is able to produce tooling for short-run, specialty bottles in days rather than months and at a fraction of the cost. For an event like the Super Bowl there are only two weeks from the time you know who will be in the game until the game. Using traditional methods, there are limited opportunities to produce products that have both teams without hedging by pre-producing (significant waste).

Another example is a major equipment manufacturer that supports legacy equipment by providing spare parts—often regardless of cost, as it is part of their brand. Providing customers with the necessary part may require a minimum order of 100 parts from their supplier.

The other 99 either gets put on a shelf taking up warehouse space and tying up capital, or they are immediately scrapped with significant economic and environmental cost. With 3D printing, one part may appear to have a higher per-part cost but not so when accounting for all 100 parts.

MD: Any other high-level thoughts on the forecast for AM in the near- and long-term?

SM: A shift in thinking from “what can the technology do” (push) to “how can business leverage technology (AM included) to achieve strategic objectives” (pull) is where we need to have these conversations. I often joke, “No one cares how many lasers a 3D printer has; tell me what those lasers are going to do for me.”

My presentation will discuss additive manufacturing at a strategic level—no technical deep-dive or discussions of lasers. Business leaders will walk away understanding why they need to be looking at this set of technologies strategically and how their competitors already are.

MD: The Sustainable Manufacturing Conference is co-located with MD&M West. Sustainability is becoming a design and manufacturing constraint, not just a corporate goal. What about this year’s Sustainable Manufacturing Conference makes it a must-attend for MD&M West engineers and product teams working in MedTech and advanced manufacturing?

SM: While some discussions of sustainability, particularly in the U.S., have taken a bit of a hit over the past year, most organizations still have bold corporate goals. But beyond that, whether the word “sustainability” is in vogue or not from one year to another or where you sit in the world, sustainable manufacturing comes down to managing resources more effectively. Not just materials, energy, waste, and by-products, but time, capital, opportunity and risk.

These last four resources are often assumed to be the same regardless of choosing traditional or additive methods, but this is where additive manufacturing can deliver benefits not by percentages but by factors.

I frequently talk with people who say their department is not focused on sustainability but, when I ask, they say they are focused on resource efficiency. Call it what you like and regardless of motivation—corporate goals, regulation, stakeholder demands or saving the planet—it still comes down to efficient management of resources. For those who say they are focused on reducing costs not emissions, I ask: “saving money on what?” Nearly anything you save money on, you save environmental impact as well.

MD: Which sessions, speakers or case studies will you prioritize, and why?

SM: I will attend as many sessions as possible and walk a lot trying to see everything and talk to a variety of people. Being curious is sometimes more important than being focused. I love to see new technologies and think about the impact they can have—often beyond how it’s being marketed. I’m super-excited to have the Sustainable Manufacturing Conference as part of the larger MD&M West.