The Impact of 3D Printing

3.
The impact of 3D printing

The technology of 3D printing has attracted people’s attention in the last few years. Not only
because it brings in a totally different way of making products, but also it eliminates the
traditional manufacturing. The statistics indicate that 3D printing industry has 20.8% revenue
increase and more than 450000 printers are manufactured and equipped over the world in 2018.
The 3D printing has slowly changed the way of manufacturing as it is able to produce less
production cost than traditional manufacturing techniques and generate less carbon emission.
The positive influences of 3D printing in manufacturing industry are fast prototyping, less
manufacturing time, more innovations, less investments on inventory, massive customization,
large-scale production, and material diversity. However, the technology has limitations in a
few aspects. The products made by entry-level 3D printer can be degraded comparing to the
products manufactured by traditional methods. The speed of production can be slow depending
on the type of printers. Besides, limited variety of materials could be utilized by 3D printers.
The 3D printing has already acted roles in following perspectives in manufacturing industry
including product design, prototype manufacturing, mass-production (Kietzmann et al, 2015).
3.1 Design
Organizations are able to create products according to their purposes and interests in design
stage as 3D printers are flexible. Therefore, the complex and marvelous shapes can be realized,
which are impossible for previous techniques to achieve. The technology enables changes to
existing product design including the ability to fast and costless redesign products and make
use of unconventional design techniques. Besides, 3D printing achieves manufacturing for
design, and it enables designers to make products which never exist before or give existing
products new faces and feelings. Products developed by 3D printing could be faster and more
precise than previous methods used. In addition, 3D printing allows customers to engage in
product design and development. The result turns out to be that products are more customized
and better meet user’s needs (Conner et al, 2014).
3.2 Prototyping
The technique of 3D printing has been widely used to develop the prototype of a product in
recent years in order to speed up design cycles and improve the product quality. The time to
create a working prototype of a product can be dramatically reduced by using 3D printers. 3D
printing makes it possible for companies to carry out several tests of iterations and acquire
feedback in advance. However, this type of work can be costly and intangible even for the
largest companies in the previous years. It takes several months for organizations to simulate
and design the shape and functions of prototype before the arise of 3D printers. The quick and
costless prototype produced by 3D printer not only accelerates the product developing phase
but also cuts down the costs of entire development lifecycle (Conner et al, 2014).
3.3 Mass-production future for 3D printing

Although 3d printing and mass production share commons in minimizing inventory risk and
in improving working capital management, it is still argued by advocates of 3d printing that
mass customization is different from 3d printing in several aspects, which are technologies of
manufacturing and requirements of logistics respectively (Berman, 2012).
Mass customization relies on the application of diverse combinations of pre-assembled

modular parts. For instance, the computer company Dell mass produces computers by
assembling diverse combinations of hard drives, display cards as well as computer memory
on the basis of one customer’s personal preference (Berman, 2002). Similarly, other
companies who apply delayed differentiation technologies also complete their mass
production based on the order requirements from one customer (Berman, 2002). In contrast,
CAD software and additive manufacturing-oriented strategies are used in 3d printing to print
some objects within a number of different raw materials and a laser (Berman, 2012).
With regard to the component parts in mass production and 3d printing, they have difference
in the number of vendors (Berman, 2012). It is stated by Berman (2012) that a supply chain
integration of high degree is required in mass customization to make sure that all component
parts are right and available in the correct quantities and at the right time simultaneously.
However, when using 3d printing, only a small number of vendors will be asked to provide
readily available supplies for the company to purchase (Berman, 2012).
What is more, mass customization is often regarded as a team-based production, while the
manufacturing process in 3d printing is usually automated and CAD software-based
(Berman, 2012).
3.4. The changes brought by 3D printing

Many manufacturers have already acknowledged advantages by adopting 3D printing
techniques. The following examples indicate how 3D printing changes the status of
manufacturing industry. The main advantage of 3D printing is the ability to make prototype
quicker and cheaper. One of the most famous shoes manufacturer Timberland used to spend
$1500 and 2 weeks to produce a design model for a new shoe. However, the costs are reduced
to be $30 and 100 minutes after the 3D printing is adopted. According to the information
contributed by the manager of the houseware manufacturer Alessi, plastic prototype produced
by 3D printing will cut 5 weeks’ development time and reduce 65% costs comparing to
traditional methods.
Additionally, 3D printing plays significant role in bridge manufacturing. When the component
tools are complex, expensive and time-consuming, it is necessary for the company to plan and
make certain the time when part design is finished and when the part is ready for manufacturing.
The firm Caterpillar used 3D printing to implement bridge manufacturing between tool design
completion and massive production in order to produce hundreds of wiring harness assemblies.
The application of 3D printing dramatically decreases the time when the assembly design is
complete and waiting for production, which results in 35% efficiency increase in development
cycle.
Owing to the advantages of accurate and customization, 3D printing has been intensively used
in medical applications such as deaf-aid, artificial teeth and limb. Those type of medical
equipment requires unique shape and size so as to ideally conform to patient’s physiological
characteristics. Mayo Clinic used CAD techniques to digitalize patient’s oral cavity situation
in a few minutes and then the customized dentures are made in hours by 3D printing (Berman,
2012).
Reference
Berman, B. (2012). 3-D printing: The new industrial revolution. Business horizons, 55(2), 155-162.
Conner, B. P., Manogharan, G. P., Martof, A. N., Rodomsky, L. M., Rodomsky, C. M., Jordan, D. C., &
Limperos, J. W. (2014). Making sense of 3-D printing: Creating a map of additive manufacturing products and
services. Additive Manufacturing, 1, 64-76.
Kietzmann, J., Pitt, L., & Berthon, P. (2015). Disruptions, decisions, and destinations: Enter the age of 3-D
printing and additive manufacturing. Business Horizons, 58(2), 209-215.

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3.

The impact of 3D printing

3.3 Mass-production future for 3D printing

Mass customization relies on the application of diverse combinations of pre-assembled

3.4. The changes brought by 3D printing

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