Take a lesson from Charles Hull, credited with inventing stereolithographic (3D Printing), the solid imaging process. He was the inventor of the first commercial rapid prototyping technology and founded 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) that has grown into a 2492 employee company with a market cap of USD $1.846 billion (Morrissey, 2015). Dream big. The Price of DDD appears to follow the Gartner Hype Cycle.
The potential applications for 3D printing are almost limitless. Hushang Tengda in Bejing, China printed a 400m square villa on site in 45 days. The Institute of Advance Architecture of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain used an arm of robots that build as a unit, removing limitations of one large print, with the ability to create skyscrapers. INNOprint in Nantes, France has mastered emergency accommodations, leveraging printers to create shelters ready to go in 30 minutes. MX3D out of Amsterdam, Netherlands created a 3D printed steel bridge across a canal. 3D printing is solving simple challenges such as producing a piping hot pizza and starting to tackle more challenging problems. NASA is not interested in creating Space Age Food; they are interested in the ability to create a tool on demand in space. That concept is a bit distance so let’s make this more personal.
America’s population on average getting older. The population of Americans ages 65 and older is forecasted to more than double from 46 million today to over 98 million by 2060 (Mather, 2016). Education levels are increasing, life expectancy is on the rise, and older adults are working longer. Inevitably at some point we all need healthcare. Process to perform a surgery is about to dramatically change. Soon doctors will have the ability to scan a patient and print a life-size model of that patient’s organ, for example, a heart, to allow physicians to identify where they must operate and anticipate future complications. 3D printing will give doctors the ability to review medical problems, much like architect’s view building plans in 3D (Conner-Simons, 2015). Is 3D printing an indicator of the reversal of the Industrial Revolution? A new shift from mass production to individualized manufacturing on demand. China may have to cede its title as the world manufacturing powerhouse (Morrissey, 2015).
Opportunities for China won’t entirely implode. Not all products lend themselves well to 3D printing. Fortunately, the products that don’t may benefit from the next generation, fourth dimension (4D) printing. These printed parts are injected with “memory materials” that respond to light or heat creating new shapes after delivery (D’Aveni, 2015). Imagine a new cabinet, that is shipped flat in a 3-foot box, but upon arrival reshapes itself into a 9-foot cabinet when exposed to light. There is still hope for China.
References
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