3D Printing is the technological ability to recreate exact replicates of 3D images into actual physical objects. In other words, people can now literally recreate into physical form whatever comes to their mines in a matter of hours. Such a capability is surely going to revolutionize several industries and with that it will have a significant impact on our lives.

Believe it or not 3D printing started and has been around since the 1980’s. However, it’s taken the industry close to 30 years to perfect and bring this technology to light because of the enormous amount of R &D that is required to create patents, plus the long amount of time it takes to officially get those patents finalized by the government. Not to mention the complexity of a 3D printer, it took companies quite a bit of time to create a prototype in order to be used to create other prototypes.

At the moment there are 3 major markets for 3D printers, the first is the manufacturing industry, second is service based companies, and third is the consumer market.

The primary buyers for 3D printers are manufacturers, as a major portion of their work is focused on creating products for the mass market which require a lot of prototyping and testing. 3D printers have accelerated this process substantially because of the increased speed of producing prototypes at an even cheaper cost.

In terms of service companies, the market potential is nearly endless as the use for 3D printers is extremely diverse. In the health industry, businesses in the Japan have begun using 3D printers to make human teeth which can be used for patents whenever they need a tooth replacement in the future. In the fashion industry businesses may now create even more complex and customized shaped jewelry for customers. In real estate, architects may now easily display physical models instead of blue prints in front of construction companies and home owners before making a final decision on constructing their buildings.

Finally, the market for consumers is still relatively in the early stages, since not everyone has the skill set to use a 3D printer, additionally uses for customers are presently limited. People that do own them tend to create simple objects like toys and model cars or airplanes. Others with higher skills in design can produce more sophisticated objects like antique items and art.

This technology is not without its controversies. Some in the manufacturing industry claim that the government will not be able to enforce copy right laws on to owners of 3D printers in order to prevent them for eventually using a manufactures designs to produces their own products at home. Furthermore, recently in the news consumers with the use of 3D printers have been able to print fully functional fire arms without a license or serial number to trace the weapon which may assist criminals in getting away with crime.

The question to ask now, where is 3D printing going? And how will it affect us? After a general analysis and observation of how current businesses and consumer use 3D printing, we can say for sure that people worldwide will be seeing more things being customized to their liking, an even more accelerated rise in innovation, and higher quality products being produced due to the high precision in manufacturing standards.

Photo 1 Courtesy of: www.blog.cnccookbook.com
Photo 2 Courtesy of: www.monroestreetstudio.com

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