Prior to the mid-2010’s, the CNC world was largely an idle spectator to the advancements in additive manufacturing systems for metals. Compared to CNC machined components, most metal parts produced in layers (by AM) have inferior production rates and sub-standard surface finish, normally requiring post-machining. Furthermore, the cost of early metal AM systems was difficult to justify, even for high performance components. To end this historic “feud” between additive and subtractive technologies, hybrid machine tools, equipped for both CNC and AM, enabled the use of both technologies in optimal proportions as needed.
In 2012 Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies Global was founded to bring additive manufacturing to mainstream CNC machines. One year later, the first commercially available mainstream CNC machine equipped with additive capabilities was launched. In part due to this pioneering success, the generic term “hybrid manufacturing” has been applied to the emerging products and market that combines these two technologies.
Historically viewed as rivals, the conceptual leap to combine CNC with additive was rooted in the realization that although their natures were different, they were in fact complimentary. This was a crucial insight that motivated the invention of the AMBIT™ deposition system for hybridizing CNC machines.
