Additive manufacturing has moved beyond its early role as a niche or experimental technology and is now an established part of product development and production in a range of industries. Avid Product Development, a U.S.-based engineering consultancy and AM service provider, is one of the companies applying these technologies across the full development process—from initial concept to production of functional components.
Founded with the mission to bridge the gap between design and production, Avid combines deep engineering expertise with cutting-edge 3D printing capabilities to deliver functional prototypes, end-use parts, and production-ready solutions. Their services span the entire product development cycle, enabling clients to innovate faster, iterate with confidence, and reduce time-to-market.
With expertise in polymer-based additive manufacturing, including post-processing, surface finishing, and design for AM (DfAM), Avid supports a variety of industries such as medical, aerospace, consumer products, and industrial applications. The company utilizes technologies like HP’s Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) to produce high-precision, functional parts—a process explained in detail in a video overview of their MJF workflow. By combining engineering consulting with in-house production, Avid offers an integrated development process tailored to the specific needs of each project.
One of Avid’s key differentiators lies in their ability to seamlessly scale from prototyping to production using the same technologies and workflows. This flexibility, combined with a growing ecosystem of automation tools and AM-specific software, positions the company as a trusted partner for organizations seeking to fully leverage the potential of digital manufacturing.
Interview with Connor Reddington
To gain deeper insight into the role of additive manufacturing in today’s product development landscape, 3Druck.com spoke with Connor Reddington, Sales & Marketing Manager at Avid Product Development. In the interview below, he shares his perspective on how AM is influencing design and engineering practices, highlights key technological developments, and discusses how companies are integrating AM into their workflows across different industries.
From your perspective, how has additive manufacturing influenced and shaped the product development process?
Connor Reddington, Sales & Marketing Manager at Avid Product Development
As a service bureau and engineering consulting company, AM and product development are very closely linked. Our engineering team is able to deliver functional prototypes in a matter of days (sometimes even hours), helping the team “fail fast” and quickly validate concepts or immediately improve on them. It has also allowed us to own a product from beginning to end, seamlessly transitioning from prototyping to production using the same manufacturing technology. The growing pains of scaling up an AM product can be planned for from the beginning and addressed throughout the entire development process.
Additive manufacturing has advanced significantly in recent years. Which innovations or technological breakthroughs do you consider particularly transformative for the industry?
Some of the most important breakthroughs for us have been on the automation and post-processing side. Partners like AMT and DyeMansion allow us to optimize our workflows for product consistency and efficiency. Additionally, we are seeing software designed and optimized specifically for the AM production workflow. Combining hundreds of mass-customized components, all with individual files, into a workflow with high-volume serial production is a new challenge—one only made possible by additive manufacturing.
How does additive manufacturing impact the product design process, and what advantages or limitations does it introduce compared to traditional manufacturing methods?
AM enables incredibly complex and otherwise unmanufacturable geometries to be produced as efficiently as very basic ones. If the final manufacturing method (AM versus traditional) isn’t accounted for from the beginning, engineers can end up redesigning an assembly after designs are “finalized.” Traditional manufacturing methods are still critical to a healthy manufacturing ecosystem, and new engineers who have been utilizing AM since childhood still need to learn and respect these other methods—or risk becoming poor designers.
Looking ahead, what role do you believe additive manufacturing will play in different industries, and how could it impact society as a whole?
As a service bureau, we look forward to greater adoption of the technology across all industries and fields. Powerful new software ecosystems like Toolkit3D enable doctors to create devices quickly and efficiently, improving patient outcomes. nTop enables lattice structures and design optimization, leading to better products that were impossible just a few years ago. Engineers in all fields will continue to find ways to incorporate more AM into their development workflows, increasing their value to their employers and creating better products. AM automation workflows will continue to mature and further improve the quality and repeatability of products only enabled by AM. We are excited to work with our customers to meet all of their prototyping and production needs.
Here you can find further information on the services provided by Avid Product Development.
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