3D printing has been hailed as a revolutionary technology with significant potential to alter business, manufacturing and society in general. But how much of the talk around 3D printing is based in reality and how much is simply pie-in-the-sky thinking?
There’s no doubt that the entrepreneurs have benefitted from 3D printing’s versatility and relatively low price point (the still-declining price-tag varies depending on features but it is easy to get a capable machine for under £1,000 and there are now many third-party printing services).
For startups producing physical products, there is much to be gained from the significantly smaller turnaround time in prototype production, as well as the ability to make tests of certain objects without having to create expensive dies and moulds.
It also means that firms can offer greater customisation and do not have to hold stock unnecessarily – instead printing on an as-needed basis. Other, perhaps more hidden benefits, include not having to design products for ease of manufacturing and being able to print lighter components. As 3D printers build layer-by-layer, designers do not have to worry about allowing products to be handled by machines during production.
3D printers can also produce components that weigh less – important in fields such as aeronautics and the automotive industry – because they can reduce unnecessary material better than traditional methods that create the object through subtraction of material.
That’s the rather more mundane present of 3D printing. Where it starts to get slightly more controversial is what futurists think it means for society in the coming years. This ranges from a complete transformation of society and East-West relations to little more than another, different method of production.
The more optimistic see 3D printers as an essential item that will eventually be in every house if prices for machines and printing materials continue to trend downwards. Then instead of ordering products through shops or online retailers, consumers would be able to download and print their own – either through open source or commercial sites.
This would mean a transformation in the retail, supply chain and manufacturing sectors, says Professor John Bryson, professor in enterprise and competitiveness at the University of Birmingham.
“In 10 years time, who knows what the printer will look like. It is already capable of self-replication – you can buy a 3d printing machine that can print another 3d printing machine,” he adds. “It’s sci-fi hitting the real world economy.”
This would mean that higher-income countries would be less reliant on production in low-wage areas for cheap manufacturing. Distribution would shift from a ‘push’ to a ‘pull’ model with items made only on an as-needed basis, according to Jon Sleeman, director of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) research at Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate consultancy.
This would mean an end to the current model of production, distribution and consumption – largely from East to West. “In 10-15 years time, it could be all about the movement of powder across the world with products never being shipped to different markets,” adds Professor Bryson.
Greater access to means of production would mean greater competition as anyone with a 3D printer and the relevant knowledge could start producing designs and products. This could lead to greater innovation as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) compete in offerings.
But it could also lead to confusion in the marketplace, with consumers struggling to wade through all the different options. More worryingly, it may also result in a wide variation in standards and quality as regulators and government agencies struggle to keep up or act as enforcers in an increasingly growing, changing global market.
And that is assuming that 3D printing really does take off in such a mainstream way. There are a number of technical barriers for this. For instance, 3D printing still struggles with large objects and can be a time as well as energy-intensive process, according to Ronen Kadushin, a designer and consultant in design and design education.
Equally there is a more problematic barrier in that people will have to rethink how they use 3D printers as well as other affected technologies. “The next industrial revolution? I think it’s a consumer revolution not a manufacturer revolution,” says Kadushin. “What we’ve seen up to now is iPhone covers. There are also prosthetics and such but this is not a domestic scenario. So calling it a revolution and offering iPhone covers as the embodiment of revolution is ridiculous.”
Currently a revolution from 3D printing seems a long way off. But as Sleeman points out, few people would have predicted the transformational effect the internet has had on society in the last 25 years. What entrepreneurs will be able to do in the future remains an exciting unknown. But for now, the practical advantages of 3D printing are nothing to sneer at.
