At the departmental level, justification for fixtures can be quite simple. Those that use direct digital manufacturing for this application report savings of 50 to 75 percent, when compared to traditional machining and fabricating processes. So, if the typical fixture costs $500, direct digital manufacturing has the potential to produce the same item for $125 to $250. Coupled with the rapid response to manufacturing challenges, this cost reduction makes it is easy to justify direct digital manufacturing of fixtures.
Direct Digital Manufacturing: Impact and Opportunity (pdf)
To view this document, click here