Image courtesy of American Additive Manufacturing.

American Additive Manufacturing’s
Formula for SuccessCustomer dedication and enabling technology
fuel this service provider’s growth.

Case Study“Excellence in all we do.” That is the credo that American Additive Manufacturing
is determined to live by. It may be a difficult mission statement to achieve, but as akeenly customer-focused 3D printing service provider, it is a mission that gets lived
daily. American Additive Manufacturing has the expertise, customer reputation, andperformance to prove they are accomplishing it.

2Maximizing Customer Value in
Competitive Industries
American Additive Manufacturing, located north of Philadelphia, supports companies in the aerospace,automotive, and defense industries that need fast prototype iterations and short-run production. Its
mission: deliver maximum value to customers through 3D printing innovation, enabling competitive
advantages while advancing the implementation of additive manufacturing.
“We specialize in highly engineered applications for regulated industries where certification and precise
tolerances are critical,” says Matt White, Director of Engineering. “Our customers are under intensepressure to accelerate development cycles and compress lead times while maintaining exceptionallyhigh standards. We give them best-in-class additive manufacturing to stay competitive.”

The Right Resources
Form the Foundation
Achieving that goal requires investment in equipment and software and the expertise to maximize what
they offer. For starters, American Additive uses a 3D laser scanner, which helps with metrology efforts.
The geometries on some of the parts Matt and his team work with can be difficult, if not impossible,
to measure accurately by hand. The 3D scanner helps them identify and validate that the parts exhibit
correct dimensions and are in tolerance to ensure accurate 3D print results. In the 3D printer department,
American Additive has added capacity and capability to meet and even reduce job lead times while
shortening customer turnaround times.

Case Study

In a measure to maintain its uptime for customers, American Additive took steps to address power
disruptions, which are hard to predict but inevitably occur. An interruption in a 3D printer’s power can abort
the print job, something a client-focused service provider like American Additive wants to avoid. “We’veinvested in redundant power supplies like generators and UPS’s (uninterruptible power supply),” says Matt.
“In the northeast, we do see storms and hurricanes, and whenever power does go out, we’re able to havebackup power. If we do lose a print, we have this additional capacity as well, so we can reprint on one ofthe other machines that we have.”

3

Living its
Customer-Centric Mission
With its industrial 3D printers, American Additiveemploys high-performance thermoplastics likeULTEM™ 9085 resin to make complex ductwork,
housings, and components too difficult to machineor injection mold. By scaling to meet growing
demand, American Additive becomes an extensionof its customers’ engineering teams. “We consult
on optimal designs for 3D printing, ensure quality,and handle logistics so our customers can focus
purely on innovation,” says Matt. “It’s about being
an accelerator - helping them develop better
products faster.”
Helping their customers this way involves working
closely with them on a project’s design-for-additive
manufacturing, or DFAM, aspects. DFAM helps
optimize 3D printed parts using best practices
that leverage the advantages of the 3D printer, thematerials, and software. “That’s exactly where wefocus,” says Matt. “ULTEM™ is a little trickier toprint, so there’s a little bit more of DFAM, especiallywith ULTEM™, which doesn’t have soluble support,”
he adds. Complex designs may have internal
spaces that make removing the support material
from an ULTEM™ part difficult or impossible. “Wereally work with our customers to make sure thatthe orientation will suffice for internal cavities or
we change the geometry,” says Matt.

They gave us a purchaseorder Friday, we printed
it over the weekend andshipped the parts onMonday.” The news about
this fast turnaround spreadwithin the customer’sorganization and, according
to Matt, “is hugely valuable
for retaining a customer.”
MATT WHITE,
Director of Engineeringat American Additive Manufacturing

Case Study

To put an exclamation point on American
Additive’s customer-driven business philosophy,
the team shared a rapid-response experience
involving a prominent aerospace company. Matt
picks up the story, “They gave us a purchaseorder Friday, we printed it over the weekend andshipped the parts on Monday.” The news about
this fast turnaround spread within the customer’sorganization and, according to Matt, “is hugely
valuable for retaining a customer.”

Image courtesy of American Additive Manufacturing.

4Help From
Technology Partners
In its relatively short tenure, American Additive has
proven it has the expertise and the performanceto help customers meet their goals with additive
manufacturing. But it’s a team effort. Helping
support American Additive is CADimensions,a local 3D printing technology provider.
CADimensions is a Stratasys reseller and helps
American Additive maintain its capabilities withStratasys printers and software.
“CADimensions has been extremely receptive andresponsive to all of our questions, and I know wehave a lot of questions,” Matt says. “They’re quick
to respond, and if they don’t know, they know
who to point us to, who has the answer.” Mattcontinues, “They make sure we can always deliverfor customers, and that loyalty is invaluable as
we continue advancing additive in aerospace andbeyond.”

CADimensions has been
extremely receptive andresponsive to all of ourquestions, and I know wehave a lot of questions,”
Matt says. “They’re quick
to respond, and if they
don’t know, they know
who to point us to, who
has the answer.” Matt
continues, “They make sure
we can always deliver forcustomers, and that loyalty
is invaluable as we continue
advancing additive inaerospace and beyond.”
MATT WHITE,
Director of Engineeringat American Additive Manufacturing

Case Study

Leveraging thePower of Software
One piece of technology that’s been very usefulfor American Additive is Stratasys GrabCAD Print
Pro™, an add-on to GrabCAD Print™ software.
A critical step impacting all service providers
like American Additive is accurately quoting aproject’s price. In many cases, this value is anapproximation based on the overall volume ofparts in the project. But this estimate doesn’t givethe complete picture or the most accurate price,which may not be precise enough to secure thejob. That’s where GrabCAD Print Pro comes into
play, providing Matt’s team with more detailed
pricing tools.

“The per-part estimation tools in GrabCAD Print
Pro have become essential for us to provide
detailed and precise quotes to customers,”
explains Application Engineer Ellis Waldman.
“Rather than approximating based on percentagesof volumes, we can now give itemized costingfor every single part in an order. This granularity
shows the customer we’ve done our homeworkand instills confidence they’re getting the 		best value.”5Accurate quoting down to the part level has
helped American Additive win more businessin hyper-competitive industries. “With GrabCAD
Print Pro, we can turn around quotes incredibly
fast while still maintaining transparency andaccuracy,” Ellis adds. “That speed, paired with
part-level pricing, has been a huge advantage
for converting leads and retaining customers
looking for aggressive value.” By leveraging
GrabCAD Print Pro’s estimation tools, American
Additive continues to strengthen trust and cement
partnerships across regulated sectors.
From Matt’s perspective, GrabCAD Print Pro has
helped his team quote and ultimately win thosejobs. “Some of these opportunities are rapidquote. So, these efficiency savings have directly
contributed to winning us jobs.”
American Additive also uses GrabCAD Print’s
integration and API capabilities to optimize
workflow and scale more efficiently. By connecting
GrabCAD Print with their website and workflow
automation tools, Matt’s team has automatedrepetitive and time-consuming tasks like quoting
to speed up customer response times. “GrabCAD
Print’s API enables us to focus our engineers
on high-value work rather than manual tasks,”
says Matt. “Integrations with our other systems
have been huge time-savers, aided our growth,and allowed us to deliver an unmatched level ofresponsiveness.”

This innovation with GrabCAD Print helps
American Additive boost productivity and deliverparts faster, setting them apart in industries where
speed is critical. Matt sums up the value this way:
“We’re a small business - we are looking to grow.
Those little efficiency savings are just huge. Now,
we don’t necessarily have to hire a new person.
Now, our current employees can complete twotasks in the same amount of time.”
American Additive Manufacturing is a small
company doing big things. By pairing its dedicatedand talented team with the right 3D printing
hardware and software, it can live out its missionof “excellence in all we do.”With GrabCAD Print Pro,
we can turn around quotes
incredibly fast while still
maintaining transparency
and accuracy.”
MATT WHITE,
Director of Engineeringat American Additive Manufacturing

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