Hardware Podcasts

AM as a Moat: How Annihilator Created a Competitive Advantage in Broadhead Manufacturing

Additive Snack · 25 Aug 2026 · 1h 08m · Episode 40

What this episode covers

Brandon Brodie, co-founder and CEO of Annihilator Broadheads, explains how a failed elk hunt inspired the creation of a broadhead with a unique 'scoop' design that creates high-pressure and low-tension wound channels. After validating the concept through plastic prototypes and an improvised Instant Pot wind tunnel test, Brodie faced severe supply chain failures with investment casting and metal injection molding suppliers, leading to massive scrap rates and lost dealers. To save the company, he brought metal laser powder bed fusion in-house, learning to operate 5-axis CNC grinding and metal printing to achieve tight tolerances and enable complex geometries like the Katana broadhead. Brodie outlines how this additive manufacturing moat allows for rapid innovation, new product lines, and future contract manufacturing partnerships.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Annihilator Broadheads, Boise State University, EOS
Products
Instant Pot, Katana

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