Rebecca Waber
If youve ever wished you could buy your very own Star Trek-type replicator, youre finally in luck. While not quite so instantaneous or hands-off, it is now actually possible to create a vase or spatula right on your desktop. And "3D printing, as it is known, is a technology with incredible disruptive potential.
3D printing actually refers to a number of different processes, but what they all have in common is that they take a 3-dimensional image (like a CAD image, or even a CT scan) and build up that object in a progression of layers. These devices are sold by a number of companies, such as Dimension Printing, Desktop Factory, and Z Corp.
3D printing can not currently compete with traditional manufacturing in terms of mass-produced products; it has lower resolution and durability, not to mention the inability to produce high volumes of goods. However, 3D printers have been constantly improving in terms of their size, speed, cost, and need for human intervention.
So far, based on their current capabilities, 3D printers have found a foothold in rapid prototyping. They tend to be marketed towards professional designers, students, engineers and architects who value the ability to produce custom models and prototypes in-house, and for whom low volumes and the other deficits of the technology are not a problem.
And yet, the potential for this technology outside the rapid prototyping market is vast, and its eventual markets unknown. One exciting application may be in biotechnology, as researchers are already studying the possibility of printing organs and bones. The technology also offers the possibility for extremely personalized consumer goods, since tweaking a digital design is relatively easy. With companies competing to produce machines affordable for even the home, and one group even helping do-it-yourselfers build their own 3D printer, Im already imagining a future where people buy (and probably pirate with illegal file-sharing) digital blueprints instead of physical objects for certain classes of products. Consequently, not only does this process of manufacturing have the potential to dramatically shake up its own industry, but the industries of the products it manufactures. This may not be something well see soon, but this is definitely a technology that Im going to keep my eyes on over the next couple of decades. Breakthroughs in the key performance dimensions mentioned above size and cost of the machine, print speed and quality, ease of use and automation could lead to significant disruption in the markets suited for the new benefits that 3D printing provides.