The future of 3D printing? It’s like putting a man on the moon…

3D-printing (3DP) came a long way since it first surfaced in 1981 and gained mainstream popularity around 2012. Also within the conventional manufacturing industry, 3DP sees growing prominence thanks to its growing list of applicative uses. Although it has yet to solve all manufacturing woes, an increasing number of firms keep looking towards 3DP as a disruptive solution. Will it ever attain ubiquity? Also, if it does, how will it change the way things are done?

Cultivating the matrix of 3D-printing

As it stands, an October 2017 survey by Dimensional Research revealed that only 29% of companies they approached are actively using 3DP for production parts, while 70% of these firms are using the technique for prototyping purposes. When questioned further, 96% of these firms poured forth a laundry list of challenges: businesses struggle to see its scalability, and most of them lack 3DP experience beyond small-scale projects. To move 3DP techniques past the point of experimentation and discovery, we need to address its difficulties.

Adopting the technique solely for better profits is only seeing half of its potential though. This whitepaper by EOS (Electro Optical Systems) sums it up best: 3DP is indeed profitable with its ability to reduce time-to-market, inventory cost, capital investment, and more, but it is hard to capitalize on 3DP’s potential if the firms adopting the technique are superficial with supporting 3DP’s growth.

To truly utilize the current state of 3DP, it takes more than just supporting insular additive manufacturing (AM) projects kickstarted by spunky start-up firms. Companies need to be willing for their engineers to explore innovative AM techniques while on-the-clock so that they have the flexibility to find an AM application that best fits (or revolutionizes) the company’s supply chain model.

More importantly, the decision-makers (C-level executives) also hold the power to support AM ambassadors, either by cultivating that discovery process or by nurturing open-minded attitudes towards AM (and the benefits they bring). The good news is that we do see a greater demand for 3DP and AM applications, which drives DSM to create materials that can support massive adoption rates of 3DP in itself.

Additive manufacturing with additive results

3DP faces an explosive upward trend in the coming years as it shifts away from prototyping, towards customized mass production. IDC forecasts US$12 billion spending on 3D-printers and materials in 2018 alone, with resource industries and healthcare industries expecting 35% or higher compound annual growth rate over the next five years. Discrete manufacturing will be the dominant industry for 3DP, from now through 2021.

Recent performance supports this; sales of metal additive manufacturing systems saw a whopping 80% increase from 2016 to 2017 – the largest increase within a year since 2000. Such growth can be attributed to large corporations that actively pursue AM techniques – aerospace companies such as Airbus, GE, and more, have been actively applying AM across their supply chain since 2014 and earlier.

It helps that the people who envision 3DP itself are pushing the technique to another level of relevance for AM players as well. Recently, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory discovered holographic 3D-printing techniques, where it cuts down hours of 3DP’s formation and curing process down to mere seconds. This technology makes it possible to print freely-moving structures inside the 3D-printed object (such as gears within a 3D-printed gearbox).

Just a few months ago, another group of researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Technology and Design successfully showcased shape-changing 3DP techniques. In their words, it “uses a variety of materials to create hard and soft components at the same time, incorporate conductive wiring directly into shape-changing structures.” With the dimension of time affecting post-production prints, AM techniques are no longer constrained in the 3D realm.

Indeed, by the time most of us are capable of incorporating 3DP seamlessly into our lives and workflow, 3DP techniques itself would’ve progressed beyond our current understanding within the AM industry, making it even more critical for materials providers like ourselves to anticipate and address such changes as they come.

A 3D-printed future

3D-printing will most certainly reshape the future, and we will continue to experience wilder, more innovative ways to implement it in markets that may not even exist today..

Just like how 3DP and the AM space does not come with a one-size-fits-all solution, the rapid growth in 3D-printing also requires the joint effort of its players.  – software, hardware, end users, service, technology, and advanced materials suppliers, such as ourselves. . By approaching AM as an ecosystem we can give customers access to greater choice for the application, create meaningful partnerships that expand and propagate applications across a variety of unique business models, with solutions designed for end-user needs that offer heightened adoption speed at a lower cost.

This concerted effort towards additive manufacturing makes it even more impertinent for DSM to strive towards even more sustainable, creative materials development that not only breaks traditional manufacturing limits but also transforms the product cycle and design beyond our imagination.

Until that future arrives, we can satiate ourselves with accessible 3DP examples that are well on the way towards contributing to the betterment of humanity. If eco-friendly 3D-printed sneakers by Adidas are not your jam, there’s always 3D-printed healthcare, from printed skin for burns to brand-new organs with stem cells as its base material.

Me? I am waiting for mass-produced 3D-printed electric cars to hit the roads in 2019.  To encapsulate my belief in 3DP manufacturing shaping our future, I quote the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy when mankind first stepped on the moon:“We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.”