Getting approval for 3D printing capital expenses

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Calling all engineers. As you probably know, in business the question generally isn’t what you should be doing, but rather what you can get approval to do. This often results in engineers recommending new technologies that are out of alignment with corporate expense objectives.

This is especially true with capital expenditures for equipment purchases—like in your additive manufacturing (AM) operation.

Too often, forward-thinking engineers eager to introduce technology that achieves key business objectives are stymied by their company’s capital approval process. And the resistance becomes even greater when they try to introduce a progressive technology for which there is no existing line item in the budget.

This scenario often occurs when a company first considers acquiring 3D printing equipment—especially automated systems for postprinting. Many companies settle comfortably into manual postprocessing approaches that, while familiar, are inefficient and constraining.

With constant innovations in AM comes greater complexity in part geometries and print materials. This evolution brings higher expectations for end-part quality. These expectations include safeguarding parts from damage, ensuring internal channels are finished, and processing large-scale parts—all of which must be done at increasingly higher part volumes.

Naturally, engineers want a postprocessing solution that will deliver the desired results for them in a way that matches their advanced printer’s capabilities and delivers consistent results. But somehow those expectations don’t always translate to the budget held by the CFO.

What to do? Speak their language.

Don’t talk to your finance team about your challenges (or even the solution). Speak in terms of return on investment (ROI) and investment payback period (IPP).

Finance types prefer investments that pay for themselves quickly, all other things being equal. So the key to a payback analysis is the measure of time. The IPP is the time it takes for the cumulative returns to equal the cumulative costs—the break-even point.

Once you pass the break-even point, all subsequent operations actually add to the value of the company. (Note: Though time is the classic measure for payback period, some analysts also look at payback in terms of unit production.)

ROI is a measurement of the consequence of the investment (in our example, the investment in an automated postprinting solution). It is a ratio, or percentage, comparing net gains to net costs. ROI provides a direct, easily understood measure of the investment’s profitability and lets the finance team quickly compare the magnitude and timing of expected gains with the scale and timing of costs.

As you enter the process of acquiring technology that’s new to your company, work with a supplier that can offer advice about ROI and IPP. Willingness to offer such advice indicates the supplier will be a true partner in your additive launch or expansion.

And speaking finance people’s language when trying to get their buy-in for capital equipment will accelerate your additive endeavor from idea to implementation.