3d Printing
HBR : 3D Printing Revolution
Executive Summary
The use of 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has moved well beyond prototyping, rapid tooling, trinkets, and toys. Companies such as GE, Lockheed Martin, and BMW are switching to it for industrial production at scale. More companies will follow as the range of printable materials continues to expand. Already available are basic plastics, photosensitive resins, ceramics, cement, glass, numerous metals, thermoplastic composites (some infused with carbon nanotubes and fibers), and even stem cells. In this article the author makes the case that additive manufacturing will gain ground quickly, given advantages such as greater flexibility, fewer assembly steps and other cost savings, and enhanced product-design possibilities.
Managers, D’Aveni writes, should now be engaging with strategic questions on three levels: Sellers of tangible products should ask how their offerings could be improved, whether by themselves or by competitors. Industrial enterprises should revisit their operations to determine what network of supply chain assets and what mix of old and new processes will be optimal. And leaders must consider the strategic implications as whole commercial ecosystems begin to form around the new realities of 3-D printing.
Many of the biggest players already in the business of additive manufacturing are vying to develop the platforms on which other companies will build and connect. Platform owners will be powerful because production itself is likely to become commoditized over time. Those facilitating connections in the digital ecosystem will sit in the middle of a tremendous volume of industrial transactions, collecting and selling valuable information.
HBR Reprint R1505B
https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-3-d-printing-revolution#
3D Printing: Are You Ready for the New Decentralized Industrial Revolution?
McKinsey has estimated a potential of generating an economic impact of $230 billion to $550 billion per year by 2025 with various 3D applications, the largest impact being expected from consumer uses, followed by direct manufacturing. As the breadth of application of 3D printing continues to grow, it will be interesting to observe how the industries will mix with and influence the future of additive manufacturing.
3D printing: Second industrial revolution is under way
WE ARE smack bang in the middle of a second industrial revolution.
3D printing, or “additive manufacturing” as it is more properly known, is about to transform every single aspect of our lives.
Machines today can print objects out of almost any material – from nylon to glass, from chocolate to titanium – and with any complex geometry. This is transforming not just engineering, but many other fields, including education, archaeology, bio-printing and even food printing. Look online and you will see thousands of objects ready to be printed on demand, from custom-shaped hearing aids to authentic-looking replicas of ancient cuneiform tablets.
More importantly, soon anyone will be able to make complex products quickly and cheaply, something that will democratise innovation and unleash human creativity.
The next stage of this journey, which we are just beginning to experience, is control over the composition of such printed matter – going beyond shaping geometry, to shaping the internal structure of materials – with unprecedented fidelity. Forget the traditional limitations imposed by conventional manufacturing, in which each part is made of a single material. Instead, we are talking about specifying microstructure with micrometre-scale precision.
We are making materials within materials, and embedding and weaving multiple materials into complex patterns. We can print hard and soft materials in patterns that create bizarre and new structural behaviours, like materials that expand laterally when pulled longitudinally.
This flexibility means you will soon be able to print a custom tennis racket that cleverly compensates for your unique weaknesses, or a replacement spinal-disc implant exactly tailored for your bad back.
The third and final episode of this journey, of which we ...
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