Everyone wants a bite, but nobody is making the pies.

Driven by pure curiosity, we investigated the turnaround for producing a single component in PPS-CF — a rugged composite critical for high-stakes aerospace and heavy industrial applications. We’ve included the timeline from one of the industry’s so-called "titans" of 3D printing. As for the rest of the major outfits? They can’t even be bothered to support the material.

The lead times are a joke: nearly three weeks, unless you’re willing to fork over a 50% premium just to shave off seven days. If you actually need it within a week, that surcharge climbs to 90% — it’s absurd. You do all the heavy lifting with CAD and specifications, only to be left waiting while your project is “farmed out” to whichever low-cost bidder can take it. More often than not, that means your “American” innovation is being shipped off to Mexico or Canada. You can opt for a domestic shop, of course, but even that basic requirement comes with an extra fee.

That headline isn’t just fluff; it’s the reality of a market bloated with middlemen and devoid of actual makers. While intermediaries have always had a place, the gap between American industrial capacity and those who need it is widening into a canyon. Nowadays, entrepreneurs are focused on “launching,” but the odds of them actually manufacturing those products on home soil are effectively zero.

To provide a real-world comparison: should a client hand us this design on a Monday morning, we would have the finished product delivered by Thursday. That isn’t some premium expedited service — it’s just our standard.

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