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As a single-step process, Additive Manufacturing (AM) affords full measurability with respect to process energy inputs and production cost. However, the parallel character of AM (allowing the contemporaneous production of multiple parts) poses a number of problems for the estimation of resource consumption. A novel combined estimator of build-time, energy consumption and production cost is presented for the EOSINT M270 Direct Metal Laser Sintering system. It is demonstrated that the quantity and variety of parts demanded and the resulting ability to utilize the available machine capacity impact process efficiency, both in energy and in financial terms.
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Baumers et al. (2012) studied this question.