Revolutionary. Game Changer. Breakthrough. Transformative. People like to apply words like this to describe the degree of progress achieved in all manner of things, big or small. Of course, such words are all too often employed as pure hype about a new shade of lipstick or a doll that giggles. But large scale changes do merit such words, e.g. the American, Cuban and Iranian revolutions. Certainly the advent of computers was transformative while breakthroughs in medicine have dramatically changed life expectancy from age 31 in 1900 to 71 in 2014, according to Wikipedia.
My posting today is about 3D printing (defined as the action or process of making a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many thin layers of a material in succession) which embraces all of those forms of change and much, much more. Consider this: In President Obama's inaugural address in 2013, he said, In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama said, "3D printing has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.” He proposed that Congress should “create a network of 15 of these [additive manufacturing] hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is made in America.”
Actually, the new business model consists of a network of manufacturing hubs world wide; a network that brings manufacturing closer to the people that buy the products, creating products and jobs locally. The technologies available today allows users to create designs in everything from Nylon to Stainless Steel to sell to people everywhere. The Market value of the industry is huge. According to Allied Market Research it will be worth some "$8.6 billion globally by 2020, registering a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21% during 2015 - 2020."
Personally, I was not impressed with the early printers (circa 1990) that produced plastic Yoda figurines, vases, dinosaurs, etc. Today, the invention has evolved into jaw dropping capabilities such as constructing buildings, airplanes, cars, bridges as well as the ability to create prosthetics, human organs and bone replacements. Here are a few examples:
BUILDINGS
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| Salt 1 |
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| Dubai Museum of the Future |
AUTOS
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| Blade |
Wow-click here
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| Urbee 2 |
Check it out here.
BRIDGES
details here
‘ AIRCRAFT
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| Airbus Thor |
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| Boeing 3D Parts |
We all know that 3D printing has been playing a big role in the aerospace industry for some time now, including Boeing's carbon fiber wings. How big? Lockheed Martin’s Forth Worth production facility currently uses 5,000 jigs and fixtures produced through additive manufacturing. The plant's 18 additive machines are in use 70 percent of the time, producing new or replacement production tooling. source here
The use of 3D in Medicine and Health has become fairly common news since 2000 when a printed working kidney was created, followed by a prosthetic leg (2008), first prosthetic jaw printed and implanted (2012) and ability to 3D print bone (2016). But much of the new medical frontier for 3D printing has not received news coverage. Herein is a partial update:
Frost & Sullivan, a 50 year old industrial analysis company,
report here recently noted: "There has been a lot of buzz surrounding 3D printing, especially in orthopedics, dentistry, and prosthetics. Over the next two to five years, markets such as corrective lenses, advanced wound care, and stents also show promising growth prospects. Bio-printing and organ transplants are interesting areas that hold significant potential but are subject to high levels of risk and long dated."
Scientists and doctors are working together world wide to print organs with 3D technologies. From 3d printed livers at San Diego-based bio-printing company Organovo to 3d printing skin cells at Wake Forest University all from our own cells.
Additive manufacturing seems to have endless possibilities and is growing so fast media sources (including this reporter) struggle to keep up. Technical information and promotion about 3D is published mostly on line by various additive machine makers who will sell or lease a machine to anyone who can afford it (prices fall as availability increases). Retail sales of new 3D creations are also plugged on the tube, such as the daily ads about customized teeth alignment devices.
3D printing is becoming a new trend in the fashion world also. Dita von Tees’ 3D printed gown is a good example of this. Or consider the jaw dropping, work of
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| Iris van Herpen dress |
Iris van Herpen, viewed here whose ethereal creations are now displayed in museums.
Adidas has been making 3D printed shoes for quite some time now. My guess-- it is only a matter of time before you can find a head to toe 3D printed clothes outfit in your local store.
Adidas has been making 3D printed shoes for quite some time now. My guess-- it is only a matter of time before you can find a head to toe 3D printed clothes outfit in your local store.
a fast growing application for use in everything from quaint pottery to space travel linked here . Musicians may want to try out a 3D printed sax, guitar, drums or ukelele right here.
The do it your self (DIY) crowd can get in on the fun also. click here I have seen things produced in a garage like Scuba diving thrusters, combat robots, paintings and acrylic design cutting.
I am not a tech geek, but basically the process is as follows: a detailed specification is created or downloaded from the internet (libraries are popping up everywhere). A powder-like material (with many options) is loaded in the machine and the design is printed. Any search engine can point you to machines that range in price from 250 to 3,500 bucks.
OK, I can hear you naysayers out there, and critics of the process can indeed point to some major problems. For instance. in 2013 a plastic working 3D handgun (called The Liberator) was introduced on the internet. Initially the gun alarmed law enforcement and the public, but has since been debunked as a threat as revealed here. Actually, some metal guns have been produced but they cost about 5 grand to make; it's far better to visit your local gun shop.
Another problem is the considerable overhyping by the 3D community, who, after all, are in the business of selling printers, CAD (computer aided design) software as well as on-site projects. For the average Joe Blow, lofty ideas about creating a bike helmet, guitar or even a seemingly easy project, such as a replacement for that favorite Trump bobble head which you lost and is out of production.
Dive into the multiple blog sites populated by people who actually use the things, and it becomes readily apparent that, while the basic fused deposition modeling (FDM) machine, (which forms plastics layer by layer) is safe to use and produces little mess, other printers do not fare as well. Resins are apparently good for details but are both spendy and messy, while powder-based printers are really messy, and sometimes explosive, though no bloggers reported injuries or major damage in my admittedly brief survey.
Perhaps the real elephant in the room is the massive changes that are set to happen in the labor market in construction and manufacturing.
An article published on 4/10/17 in Forbes magazine ("Printing The Future: The Last Bastion Of Blue Collar Labor Is About To Fall") by contributing writer Richard D'Aveni succinctly noted the following: "Take construction. It’s a huge industry worldwide, accounting for $9 trillion in revenues and 6% of global GDP. It’s also been a technology laggard, with productivity barely rising [for] decades. Even with digital blueprints...we still put up buildings pretty much as we did a century ago. 3D printing promises to change that, because it fully digitizes...production...Everything is reduced to precise measurements, so owners and architects can make buildings...in shapes that haven’t been economical to produce up to now. Instead of the rectilinear forms that dominate our...[cities], we’ll get the kind of curves you see in nature...It also makes for stronger, lighter structures with the flexibility to conform to human needs [and they] will also be a lot cheaper to construct. Because everything is digital, we’ll rely on robot printers to do much of the work. Already the Institute for Advanced Architecture in Spain has developed “minibuilders,” an experimental (my emphasis) array of small robots that...put up a building in less time and [cost] than it would take humans...with ...less waste. And this isn’t just about...concrete structures. The robots also work with composites of wood, plastic, and metal. Further, he notes that..."successful construction firms have focused on a few key areas[and] gained access to a large and dependable supply of...labor and suppliers...[they also] play the game of bidding low, then making it up by overcharging on the inevitable change orders...Labor costs will go down, and much of the remaining labor will involve programming and machine maintenance. Materials will become increasingly standardized...so architects will have [more] suppliers to choose from[while]management will get easier as digital coding enables the precise timing of delivery and construction... change orders...will become far less frequent, because architects will be able to...test their digitized designs before committing to them. And like manufacturing and the military, construction will no longer be hospitable to workers without substantial technical training."
There's the rub. What happens to those carpenters, plumbers and electricians who typically swarm all manner of construction sites? Will they begin to disappear, along with the legions of folks (mostly men) who used to work "pulling chain" in lumber mills? Or the auto and steel workers who continue to be displaced by automation and robots ? Farmers, miners, retail clerks, and yes, even service workers, are going, going or already gone from their old workplace. The pat and oft-repeated solution to the problem is for people to retrain and choose an educational path that leads to "new age" employment. No argument here, but having spent many years in blue collar jobs, I have observed that, while a majority of those workers have the potential to do so, many don't have the money or time to "get smart." And others, like me, simply can't understand the subject matter.
I really do not think that mass manufacturing will be completely eradicated any time soon because of its efficiency and scale for specific products like petroleum, chemicals, and primary metals, among others. But the potential for 3D, robots and automation to change most fields of endeavor is beyond any doubt in my opinion. It's a done deal.
Men and women everywhere know this and worry a lot about their future. Young people, even those well educated, are struggling to find work and expressing their anger in the streets. Older folks, victims of various world-wide "rust belts", face a barren future, in which they have little or no influence.
Predictably, many nationalistic/autocratic political movements have arisen to reject globalization and technology. In my opinion, while these movements do make a big splash in the political arena(s), they simply can not and will not force a return to the jobs of yesteryear. Chaucer's 600 year old proverbial phrase has become a cliche', but it bears repeating: "Time and tide wait or no man."
It seems that Bob Dylan's song of the 60's,"The Times They Are A'changin" rings loud and true once again. Indeed, there is a pivotal, even critical, change which is happening, and I, for one, can't grasp the ultimate destination of our new journey.
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