Andrea Albanese and Lara Tomiko share the insights of a team of women keeping up with the latest in additive manufacturing.
The women of R&D Tax Savers have been keeping up-to-date with new and improved additive manufacturing / 3D printing technologies. We have seen that 3D printing is one of the most advanced technological activities eligible for the Research and Development (R&D) tax credit. It is important to understand how the technology takes a highly complex design to ultimately become a light-weight yet durable product. We have found that industries utilizing this technology widely range from aerospace/defense to specialty food shops.
The women of R&D Tax Savers have the following commentary regarding additive manufacturing, 3D printing, and recent client and industry developments:
Andrea Albanese, Manager
“Since starting at R&D Tax Savers ten years ago, I have seen tremendous growth in 3D printing usage across many of our client industries. What I enjoy most is the integral role 3D printing plays for companies of all sizes and types, whether it is for prototyping and mock-up purposes or for the production of parts. I have worked with clients in the lighting, furniture, aerospace, kitchen products, and architecture industries that leverage the power of 3D printing.
3D printing enables many of our clients to significantly speed up their design process, bringing new products to market in half the time. Additive manufacturing has also enabled our clients to create highly complex parts for production, such as clips and hinges for kinetic furniture. I look forward to the continued benefits of additive manufacturing as it supports businesses of all kinds.”
Preeti Sulibhavi, CPA, Tax Analyst
“The 3D printing industry has shown tremendous growth in the available technology applications as well as the industries it reaches. Particularly, since we are located in the New York City Metropolitan area, the rise in 3D printing applications in the design community and amongst artisan fabricators is apparent. One of the articles I have written revolved around professional designer artisan fabricators. It was nice to see how the skilled artisan has gone from once using rudimentary tools to now incorporating 3D printing in his or her work. Our product designer client base includes, but is not limited to: lighting, wood-working, metal shop, cabinetmaking, kitchen design, interior design, office furniture, and glass/stone sculptors. Walking around New York City and looking at various sculptures/monuments in parks and other urban centers, would be the best illustration of such artisan fabrication work.”
Andressa Bonafe, Tax Analyst
“At R&D Tax Savers, I have had the privilege of working with innovative companies in a wide range of industries. It has been fascinating to see that, despite being so diverse, most of them have relied on 3D printing to advance their R&D efforts. From the development of prototypes to the creation of custom, unique solutions, I have seen first-hand how additive manufacturing has open the way for ground-breaking work.
Over the last few years, I wrote numerous articles about 3D printing applications, including glass, apparel, lighting design, and labware, among many others. More recently, I have researched market trends and insights that can benefit users and manufacturers of 3D printers, such as The Importance Of The Pareto Principle For 3D Printing Management and Millennials and the New Demographics of 3D Printing. In 2019, I had the privilege of interviewing the CTO at 3D CRIAR, the largest 3D printing reseller in Brazil. As a Brazilian myself, I was happy to see the international reach of additive manufacturing innovation, particularly as it applies to education and the healthcare industry.”
Lara Tomiko, Tax Analyst
“I have been editing our 3D printing articles since 2017 (over 300 articles to date!) and I am still amazed at how the technology has evolved and can now be applied across almost every industry. Furthermore, it feels as if we are only brushing the surface of its potential. I look forward to reading about how additive technology continues to adapt and grow to meet the changing needs of our world. For research and development purposes, it has many benefits including modeling and testing at a lower cost and shorter production time. Since my exposure to the 3D printing world through my role at R&D Tax Savers, I have had a friend design and print a custom pink gaming headset hook for my PC battlestation at home. In the gaming world, there are vastly fewer pastel color options on the market for PC parts and peripherals, and 3D printing can be used to help fill this void as well as many others.”
Mellissa McIntyre, Tax Analyst
“At R&D Tax Savers, I have enjoyed the opportunity to learn about additive manufacturing techniques through the lens of various industries. I believe that the technology offers a lot of potential particularly to businesses just getting started. From rapid prototyping to modeling for representation of a design in a 3D space to use for final production, I have been fascinated by the versatility of the technique. As a biomedical engineer, I am particularly interested in the way that 3D printing has been used in the medical device industry. Students use the technology to created high quality, inexpensive prosthetics for children in need. There are also advancements in bioprinting, an additive manufacturing technique using live tissue as the medium. Using titanium, doctors are able to create bone implants. Overall, some 3D printing techniques have broken down the financial barrier that may professionals and students encounter in the biomedical engineering industry. I am excited to see how the technology will continue to advance in the future.”
Mindy Zhu,Tax Analyst
“3D printing is constantly upgrading our ever-changing society. It has been interesting learning about how 3D printing is used in many various industries from architecture to medicine to even the entertainment industry. I’ve worked extensively with glass architecture clients that utilize 3D printing to create their prototypes to both save money and accurately conceptualized their designs. 3D printed prototypes weren’t used just to model their glass products, it was utilized for load and even spatial testing their designs. 3D printing also allows industries to create and design products that are too intricate for any human hand to create, opening the doors for unbelievable creativity. I recently wrote an article about 3D printing in the candle industry—about all the various ways a multibillion-dollar manufacturing industry utilizes 3D printing for both production processes and products. 3D printing will continue to stimulate change in many industries, and I look forward to learning more about technological advances due to 3D printing.”
Alyssa Schneider, Tax Analyst
“I am a Binghamton engineering student going into my junior year. I have recently joined R&D Tax Savers as a summer intern and have been given the opportunity to research this article as one of my first projects. I have been researching 3D printing technology and am starting to learn more about recent trends in 3D printing as well as its versatility. I previously wrote an article on Cimquest about how combining 3D printing with Just in Time production saves money while ensuring maximum effectivity. Additionally, I wrote another article on the 3D printing of warehouse drones. Using 3D printing to create warehouse drones produces the most efficient custom warehouse drone while saving time, money, and manual labor. I am currently finishing up an article on creative people migration and 3D printing. 3D printing is one of the most advanced technologies in the world creating the most light-weight yet durable products in so many industries.”
Additive Manufacturing, Adding Value
As 3D printing is being utilized by many of R&D Tax Savers’ clients, it is important for everyone to keep up-to-date on the technology and recent developments. 3D printing has many benefits that include developing technologies and products in a more time- and cost-effective manner. The added economic benefits from the R&D tax credit can fuel further innovation in the industry as well. We are proud to help our clients obtain R&D economic benefits that can fuel further innovation at their companies.
