Sunday, July 10, 2011

3D Printing Will Revolutionize and Revive American Manufacturing in the 21st Century



Forbes (Rich Karlgaard) -- "The transformative technology of the 2015-2025 period could be 3D printing. This has the potential to remake the economics of manufacturing from a large-scale industry back to an artisan model of small design shops with access to 3D printers. In other words, making stuff, real stuff, could move from being a capital intensive industry into something that looks more like art and software. This should favor the American skill set of creativity."

Amazing, revolutionary potential here for manufacturing and even for medical applications like organ replacement. According to Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski, because of 3D printing, "The next five years in manufacturing are going to be substantially different than anything we've seen before. With 3D printing, production and complexity become essentially free. 3D printing will make manufacturing localized, customizable and accessible, with no penalty for personalization or complexity. It's entirely possible that the U.S. could see self-sufficiency and a self-sustaining future."



HT: Carpe Diem

Grouch: Is this the beginnings of the Replicator Machines we saw on TV watching Star Trek as kids?  

2 comments:

  1. Fascinating! I wonder if a 3-d house model can be printed from scanning blueprints etc.

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  2. I bet it could be done....... When I saw the second video all I could think was going to Home Depot or Lowes and having them custom print simple handtools (like a crescent wrench) right in their store.

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