The 3D Printing Revolution in 7 Industries

Here are seven industry sectors where I think that 3D printing is bringing about, or has the potential to bring, a revolution in the way in which we manufacture and distribute 3-dimensional physical objects:

#1: Automobiles

If the arrival of the Strati, the world's first 3D printed car, is anything to go by, there could come a day when you just walk into the car dealer’s showroom and have the make and model that you want printed there and then for you. At least that is the vision of Jay Rogers the CEO of Local Motors the company that designed and built the Strati. With just 49 parts, including the 3D printed body shell, this represents a considerable saving on the circa 5,000 parts needed to build the average family car.

#2: Construction

In China the construction company Winsun recently produced 10 3D printed houses in a single day and for a cost of $5,000 per unit and at USC California a team is working on a large 3D printer that will fabricate a house in one go: walls, electrics and plumbing. These changes may bring cheaper and more affordable houses for the masses and the potential for disruption is huge.

#3: Pharmaceuticals

The potential here is vast and it has the long term potential to disrupt the multi-billion Dollar pharmaceuticals industry by allowing customers to print their drugs and medicine at the point of need. Not only would it make simple over-the-counter medicines, like Ibuprofen, cheaper to produce, but also drugs where there is low demand could be printed cost-effectively for the patient, because economies of scale would not make producing small batches prohibitive.

#4: Aerospace

Disruption is already being felt within the aerospace industry, with GE’s new LEAP and GE9x engines using 3D printed fuel nozzles and turbines that add to the durability of the part, but also reduce fuel consumption. The potential is for airlines to print the part they need, wherever in the world the aircraft happens to be, whether that is at some remote airport, or even for an airforce jet onboard an aircraft carrier.

#5: Healthcare and Prosthetics

In this sector strides are already being made in terms of prosthetics and diagnosis is being assisted by physicians able to see a 3D printed model of a heart from a scan, to enable them to examine its structure and propose an appropriate treatment. There is even progress being made in the field of bioprinters that could make everything from ears to vital organs.

#6: Manufacturing

It is conceivable that when you place an order via the Amazon website that the item is then produced at the large sheds that were once their vast distribution centers and now become their distribution and manufacturing centers and delivered by drone, of course. The ability to produce anywhere and in any volume may well disrupt the comparative economic advantage that low-cost manufacturing nations, such as China, have enjoyed over the developed world. This is somewhat different from onshoring, because you will not see the same numbers of people employed in vast factories being repatriated, instead there may be scope for small specialist printers for items that cannot be fabricated instore or in the home.

#7: Food

Who needs Raymond Blanc when your 3D printer can rustle up a gourmet meal without the need to travel to the nearest fine dining restaurant? All I do is download the file and the printer does the rest and with no messy pots and pans to wash up after the meal! There are a number of 3D food printers already on the market, such as Foodini, Candy and Chefjets and they are working with confectionary, pasta and chocolate. NASA has even funded research to produce 3D printed food for deep space missions.

These are just a few areas where the initial ripples of disruption are starting to be felt from 3D printing, but this revolution is not going to be overnight, and my list is by no means meant to be exhaustive, I could quite easily have mentioned the advances being made in other applications, such as entertainment, art, fashion, and jewellery, etc. And if you think the price of replacing your laser print cartridges is exorbitant, just you wait until you are paying for the 3D replacements for your desktop 3D printer!

Picture Credits: Strati - https://flic.kr/p/pimdVt (Creative Commons); 3D house -https://flic.kr/p/d9FgL (creative commons); Pharmacy - https://flic.kr/p/2AVNw6(creative commons); Jet - https://flic.kr/p/cE1usy (creative commons); Heart -https://flic.kr/p/p16pWh (creative commons); Amazon Distribution Center -https://flic.kr/p/K8XwN (creative commons)