In some years, it will be hard for us to find any industry not influenced by
3D printing, especially mass manufacturing.3D printing is used to define a
range of manufacturing techniques, which produce component parts layer-by
-layer through the additional use of materials. There are different types of
3D printing processes ad all of them are controlled using 3-dimensional data.
Some of these processes use molten plastic which is deposited accurately
on a build platform while some other use lasers to melt layers of
powdered material, with other processes using ink-jet printing heads to deposit
material into the shape of the desired component part. The falling cost
of 3D printers has resulted in 3D printing being
feasible even for households but the real challenge
for 3D printing is Mass Production. With the
adoption of large-scale printers and rapidly evolving
technology, this challenge won’t be there for
long. 3D printers have the ability to disrupt the
current manufacturing facilities and practices and
this will bring a new set of things to be taken
care. On an industrial level, designers will only
need a CAD software package to be able to build precise and intricate designs
and present them on the same day which in comparison with earlier
methods took days or weeks even after the design was finalised. The level
of simplicity and cost effectiveness that can be achieved in 3D printing is
thus far more than the one-time cost involved in buying big 3D printers.
According to CCS Insights, approximately 1,58,000 3D printers were
sold globally in 2014 and this figure is expected to skyrocket to 8,45,000
by 2018. Such high growth could increase the revenue to $4.8 billion from
$1.6 billion and approximately 50% of this global revenue will be coming
from North America. 3D printing cuts across major industries such as Food,
Retail, Healthcare, Ancillary industries, Replacement parts, etc.
It is also expected that 3D printing will reduce lead time drastically and
may result in On-demand Production. The sort of benefit 3D printing is expected
to give is unique in the sense that it will save a
lot on things such as storage costs, cost of prototypes,
cost of production. The industries that would be most
affected other than mass production would be
Healthcare and Ancillary Industries. 3D Printing has
already affected the Healthcare industry in making
prosthetics devices & organs, surgical models and
even living tissue (commonly known as Bio printing).
Similarly, in ancillary industry, 3D printing will make it
possible to manufacture small objects at a very low cost and in time efficient
manner, bringing customised goods into play with essentially the same resources
required.
Along with all these pros, this technology also has some drawbacks which
may need some workarounds. Isabel Napper, partner at law firm Mills & Reeve
and head of the firm’s technology division, believes
there could be increasing issues around copyright as
3D printing takes off – similar to the problems experienced
in the music industry with the beginning of digital
content through sites such as Napster. Copyright
issues are going to occur as people upload design files
that potentially infringe patents and copyright material.
Another issue may be the requirement of various raw
materials which printers might not be able to process
and manufacture products. Such issues will need to be
ironed out as the future of 3D printing looks bright and its increasing potential
will eventually cast a shadow on some negative aspects as the world might
want to overlook them.
Mohit Shelke
Batch 2016-18
Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management
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