lkprototype allows mass production from one-piece prototypes to order of 100,000, catering to 99% of industrial batch requirements. For additive production (e.g., metal 3D printing), the unit can be a batch of as low as 1 piece (e.g., aerospace titanium stent) and as high as 5,000 pieces (e.g., medical implants), and the cost per unit can be reduced by 72% with increased volume (1,200 per unit, 330 per 100 units). In CNC machining, lkprototype supports variable lots of 1-5,000 units, e.g., a car sensor housing (aluminum alloy 6061) with a unit price of 85 (220) for 500 units, and by means of smart scheduling, the delivery cycle is cut down from 7 days for a single unit to 10 days for a batch (500 units). Injection molding service fees 100-100,000 pieces, like a consumer electronics case (ABS material) in 1,000 pieces mold price alone is 5,000 (ordinary steel mold 50,000), per piece cost lowered from 8.5 to 2.3, yield increased to 99.4% (industry average 96%).
For small lots (1-50 pieces), lkprototype’s rapid prototyping technology can be delivered within 24 hours, such as an order of 50 pieces for a drone propeller (PA12 nylon) at 7,500 (150 pieces per unit), 40% lower than traditional processes, and 35% weight reduction by topological optimization. For the medium lot (500-5,000 pieces) scenario, the multi-material hybrid production line is used for synchronous production. For example, smartwatch part (metal + ceramic) tolerance is ±0.02mm when 2,000 pieces are installed, surface roughness Ra is less than 0.4μm, and the production cycle is 18 days (the traditional sequence production cycle is 45 days). For extremely large batch sizes (50,000+), lkprototype’s distributed manufacturing network can reduce the unit energy cost to 0.15kW·h/ piece (industry standard 0.35kW·h), for example, 500,000 orders of a home appliance brand are handled by 5 factories, and the lead time is reduced to 25 days (traditional single production line 90 days). 62% reduction in shipping costs.
Special process flexibility validation Batch flexibility: lkprototype’s microinjection molding process (minimum part weight 0.001g) allows for the production of 10-100,000 pieces, e.g., a microfluidic chip (dimensions 8×8mm) with a unit cost of 0.08 (traditional process 0.25) at 100,000 pieces, and reduces the defect rate from 5% to 0.3% through in-mold assembly. Its sheet metal processing business (thickness 0.1-20mm) reaches positioning accuracy of ±0.01mm (traditional ±0.1mm) in 5,000 orders of laser cutting, and material utilization is increased to 98% (industry average 82%). According to the 2023 Jabil Supply Chain report, lkprototype “dynamic batch optimization algorithm” dynamically balances the optimal process combination automatically, i.e., an industrial robot joint component (batch 1,200) produced by a CNC+3D printing hybrid, reducing cost by 37% and increasing CPK value of critical dimensions from 1.0 to 1.8.
Market case brings batch advantages into spotlight: an orthopedic implant company produces 500 porous structure titanium alloy knee joints in lkprototype, it shortens the R&D period from 18 months to 4 months, one piece has a cost of 420 (historic 1,200), and the support structure is reduced by 60% through DFM analysis. Among consumer electronics, 100,000 orders for a TWS headphone charging box (PC+ABS) adopted lkprototype’s fast mold solution, the mold price was lowered to only 8,000 (industry standard of 30,000), the mold opening time was reduced from 45 days to 12 days, and the first test passing rate was as high as 98.7%. The jet engine jet customer jet takes advantage of lkprototype’s 5-axis machining capability to produce 50 nickel alloy turbine blades (±5μm surface finish) with a 78% to 99% yield improvement and 55% cost saving in inspection.
The economic model verifies the economies of scale: lkprototype’s “batch cost” curve reveals that with 3D printing, the unit cost of 100 units is 28% that of one unit; With the CNC industry, the unit cost of 500 units is 39% that of the one unit; With the injection molding industry, the unit cost of 100,000 units is 68% that of 1,000 units. Its cloud-based real-time pricing system decides on the marginal cost of different batches, e.g., a car connector (PEEK material) with a total cost of 18,000,1,000 units reduced to 45,000 units (unit price reduced from 90 to 45) at 200 units. Through dynamic resource scheduling, lkprototype can split large batch orders into local small batches (e.g., 100,000 pieces into 20×5,000 pieces), cut down the average delivery distance to 150km (historical trans-continental transportation 3,000km), and decrease carbon emissions by 74%.