Within the 3D printing sector, services offering CNC parts online mean you can upload your designs, get an instant quote and see your part being made almost immediately. This is a massive step forward from the complicated process of getting a product to market using traditional manufacturing, and significantly cheaper, too. Clearly this is of great benefit to businesses needing parts. But the applications compatible with 3D printing technology are growing on a daily basis—there are already people living in 3D printed houses. As development continues, more and more ordinary people will begin to reap the cost rewards of this huge growth industry.
Using traditional manufacturing techniques, complicated designs were generally more difficult to produce. 3D printing has opened a pathway to the previously unimaginable for designers and entrepreneurs. With the ongoing addition of new printing materials, including metal and fabric, the scope for adapting 3D printing to multiple sectors is seemingly limitless. Already industries like automotive, energy and aerospace are plugging into the potential offered by this technology, and its presence is beginning to be felt across the industrial spectrum the world over.
The benefits 3D printing can bring to new medical developments is already well understood. Victims of accidents and diseases have received 3D printed bone implants, which can be created with absolute precision. These implants often mean that metal plates or fastenings do not have to be surgically removed when the bone has healed. Medicine is also becoming more patient-specific, as scans allow the creation of 3D models of affected areas. Treatment can be significantly influenced by such preoperative models, with surgery times substantially reduced. New developments in the field of medicine and 3D printing are emerging on an almost daily basis.
The streamlined processes of 3D printing are speeding up production schedules, and reduced manufacturing time in the long term means reduced energy consumption. Additive manufacturing also produces less waste than many processes, and when it comes to plastic, these technologies could become a key factor in the drive to clean up our oceans. Other benefits include online services like 3D printing Chicago, where production is brought closer to the customer, reducing pollution from heavy transport. With an Amsterdam project already using waste plastic to print street furniture, 3D printing is looking increasingly friendly for the environment.
3D printing has ushered in a new era of creative possibilities, and the ongoing development of innovative materials will see those possibilities grow. Ideas that were once impossible to realize are now within our grasp, and the world of design and manufacture has suddenly expanded to new horizons. Entrepreneurs are already harnessing the technology to create products we never knew we needed. Economies across the globe will benefit as fresh, groundbreaking businesses are born. Sooner than we think, we’ll be buying items that haven’t been invented yet, and wondering how we ever lived without them.
This article was published in collaboration with 3D Hubs.