AM Workflow Metrics That Matter (And the Ones That Don’t)
- Authentise Team
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
In the early days of Additive Manufacturing (AM), success was simple: "Did the part print?" Today, as we move toward serial production and highly regulated environments like aerospace and med-tech, that question is woefully insufficient.
Working at Authentise, I see companies drowning in data but starving for insights. They track everything - machine uptime, social media likes on their latest lattice structure, total laser hours - but they still can’t tell their CFO why their cost-per-part is rising.
If you want to scale, you have to stop tracking "vanity metrics" and start measuring the "digital thread." Here is a guide to the metrics that actually move the needle - and the ones you can stop stressing about.
1. Metrics That Matter (The Actionable KPIs)
These are the "North Star" metrics. They tell you where your bottlenecks are and whether your workflow is truly lean.
Total Cycle Time (Design-to-Delivery)
Many managers only look at "print time." But in AM, printing is often the shortest phase. The real waste happens in the "grey space" between steps: waiting for file approval, waiting for a build to be scheduled, or waiting for post-processing.
Why it matters: It reveals the hidden friction in your workflow. If your print takes 10 hours but your total cycle time is 10 days, your problem isn't your printer - it's your process.
First-Pass Yield (FPY)
In AM, we often talk about "scrap rates," but FPY is more precise. It measures the percentage of parts that make it through the entire workflow - from print to post-processing to final inspection - without needing rework or being scrapped.
Why it matters: High scrap at the finish line (after expensive CNC machining or heat treatment) is a silent profit killer.
Material Yield & Powder Reuse Cycles
If you are doing metal AM, your powder is a precious asset. Tracking how many times a batch of powder has been recycled and its current oxygen/moisture levels is critical.
Why it matters: If you don't know your material's "lineage," you can't guarantee part quality. Tracking yield helps you optimise the 30% – 50% of your costs that often go into raw materials.
Machine Utilization (OEE for AM)
Traditional Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) needs an AM twist. You should track Availability (is the machine ready?), Performance (is it printing at the expected speed?), and Quality (is it producing good parts?).
Why it matters: Buying a $1M machine and only running it 20% of the time is a recipe for a failed ROI.
2. Metrics That Don’t Matter (The Vanity KPIs)
These metrics look great in a quarterly report but don't help you make better parts or more money.
Total Number of Prints
"We printed 5,000 parts this month!" That's great - but how many of them were actually ordered? How many were test coupons? How many were prototypes that will never see the light of day?
The Reality: High volume without a corresponding increase in "parts shipped" is just a high-speed way to waste material.
Raw Machine Uptime
A machine can be "on" and "running" without being productive. If a machine is running a build that is doomed to fail because of a bad file, that uptime is actually a liability.
The Reality: Focus on productive uptime. A machine sitting idle for 2 hours to ensure a perfect setup is better than a machine running for 20 hours on a failed batch.
Individual Operator Speed
In a connected AM shop, the "rockstar operator" who finishes their tasks in record time doesn't matter if they didn't document the batch data in the MES.
The Reality: Speed is irrelevant if the digital thread is broken. If a part isn't traceable, it’s scrap in a regulated industry.
3. The "Missing Link": Traceability Accuracy
There is one metric that most shops forget: Data Completion Rate. At Authentise, we emphasise that a part is only as good as its data. If you have a physical part but you’ve lost the data on which powder batch was used or which operator performed the support removal, that part is effectively worthless for aerospace or medical applications.
Expert Tip: Stop measuring how fast people work and start measuring how accurately they capture the data. In AM, the "digital twin" of the part is just as valuable as the physical object itself.
The Bottom Line
Scaling AM is not about buying more printers; it’s about refining the workflow. By shifting your focus from vanity metrics (volume and uptime) to actionable metrics (cycle time, FPY, and material yield), you turn your 3D printing lab into a predictable, profitable production floor.
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