In the United States, 3-D printing is ranked sixth among the top 10 fastest-growing industries in the United States. In fact, Goldman Sachs names 3-D technology as "disruptive" in its 2013 annual report on technology. The term "disruptive" is used in a benign manner to describe the technology as growing at a rate of 20 percent per year.
The report says that 3-D printing will "drive greater customization, reduce costs for complex designs and lower overhead on short-run parts … the adoption of 3-D manufacturing is expected to continue on its path of rapid acceleration."
The concept of 3-D printing is amazingly simple. Using a 3-D printer, people can create three-dimensional objects by adding materials one layer at a time. But this simple concept is poised to change the world.
3-D technology and manufacturing prediction
Andy Middleton is the senior VP and general manager EMEA at Stratasys, a company that is among the largest makers of 3-D printing equipment. Middleton notes that the use of 3-D printing has exploded over the past five years, and he predicts that future markets for 3-D printing will segregate into three distinct markets:
- Consumer: This sector already does from $300 million to $400 million each year in sales and looks ready to grow at a rate as high as 50 percent per year.
- Rapid prototyping: This sector now accounts for about 80 percent of the commercial market. They quickly "print" prototypes of new products before they manufacturing. This is a low-cost way to develop new products with little waste.
- Additive manufacturing: This sector produces parts or products for use — real parts and products, not prototypes. This is where Middleton expects the most growth in 3-D printing.
Middleton revealed some stunning thoughts on the future of 3-D printing earlier this month at the London 3D Print Show during an interview with a journalist from the IBTimes UK:
"This is where we will be seeing the major growth in the coming years," Middleton said of additive manufacturing. "I think that in the next 10 years we will seeing the factories of the future, where you will see production lines of 3-D printing manufacturing 365 days a year, seven days a week. We will see factories producing end-user parts and products in various locations around certain geography. Distributed manufactory, instead of centralized manufacturing and distribution, we will have centralized product development and distributed manufacturing."
Forbes Magazine agrees with Middleton. According to Forbes, additive manufacturing is already a $2.2 billion a year industry. According to Wohler's Research, that amount could exceed more than $6 billion by 2017.
Current use of 3-D technology in manufacturing
Ford Motor Company has shown one example of the advantages of 3-D printing prototypes. Ford used 3-D printing to build an automobile engine prototype from a sand-based material at a cost of only $3,000 in just four days. Using the old technology, a similar prototype takes several months to create at a cost of around $500,000.
Presently, 3-D printing is mainly for custom products that are not mass-produced. But one future use of 3-D printing is on ships and planes that need to replace a failed part en route. From stored CAD files, the part can print out and be placed in service immediately.
Another use that has successfully passed its first test is in space. A zero-G 3-D printer was just delivered to the International Space Station last week. Now, manufacturing a part of the space station or the spaceships that fly to the station is possible in outer space.
America Makes is an organization funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA and the Department of Commerce. They are working hard to promote additive manufacturing, which today is a tiny sector of American manufacturing. However, America Makes explains the many advantages of additive manufacturing:
- Small lot production
- Agile manufacturing
- Efficient use of resources
- Reverse engineering (great for legacy systems' parts production)
- Rapid manufacturing
The future of additive manufacturing
It is unlikely traditional manufacturing is threatened by additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing is useful for making complicated, difficult-to-make parts. New technology that is customizable, lightweight and complex is helped by 3-D manufacturing.
Chief Technology Officer Anthony Hughes of rapid prototype + manufacturing (rp+m), told Forbes that "additive manufacturing is going to be a future core technology of the engineered products industry. As we are shifting our focus from purely rapid prototyping into direct digital production, we are opening up new markets and channels really fast."
Industries destined for a future with additive manufacturing include:
- automotive
- defense
- aerospace
- consumer products/electronic
- oil and gas
- medical
- tooling
For now, experts say that the technology will not cause factory layoffs, but instead can impact manufacturing infrastructure and affordable costs.
