For quite some time, the potential of 3D printing was overlooked and underappreciated due to the lack in availability, pricing and the simple fact that no one quite understood what exactly the technology could do. Fast forward to today, and it’s a completely different story. Various industries, such as automotive, aeronautical, medical, construction and military, have now adopted the technology for multiple different uses. The rapid development of additive manufacturing technology has enabled people across these industries to produce things never before imaginable – opening up doors that never before thought possible.
All though 3D printing technology has had a significant impact across a large amount of industries, 3 in particular have reaped great reward from the advances and adoptions of this state-of-the-art technology:
Manufacturing:
Perhaps the industry that utilizes the most, the manufacturing industry has developed easy accessibility and simple functioning 3D printing tools – although there are some restraints in terms of speed and scale. The vast majority of manufacturing facilities have begun to turn to 3D printing technologies in order to change the long-standing traditional manufacturing process. With 3D printing, both the design and production costs – and time – can be substantially reduced. Additive manufacturing poses a very feasible option to the future of the manufacturing industry.
3D printing enables manufacturers to produce prototypes in a fraction of the time it would take traditional manufacturing methods. With 3D printing, the cost remains unchanged regardless of the amount of parts being produced at well. Possibly the greatest benefit of 3D printing is the ease of access – users can produce a part anywhere – even space! All that is needed is the file and a 3D printing to produce a part – something previously thought impossible.
Medicine:
Perhaps the most beneficial impact of 3D printing technology in the world lies in the medical world. Here, 3D printing has enabled detailed pre-surgical planning with 3D printed medical models, improved artificial joints, helped reduce heart failure, printed bone and joint replacements and revolutionized prosthetics – just to name a few of medical marvels. 3D printing living organs and even living bacteria. More and more medical facilities are continually adopting this technology and integrating it into every day medical operations – from basic to life-saving.
3D printing technology is used for countless purposes in various industries, such as healthcare and medicine. Its impact on these two fields in particular has been enormous, providing doctors with a cutting-edge tool that benefits patients worldwide. 3D printing has produced 5 specific advances that have both changed and saved lives.
Retail & Shipping:
Retail? Yes. The majority of retailers and manufacturers alike are both companies centralized around producing batches products, whether the quantity be small or large. The problem is, these production process are expensive and switching between the amount produced isn’t a very cost or time efficient process. However, with 3D printing, small batch inventory is made easy and cheap, not only saving the company time and money because they can produce as items are demanded, but also reducing waste materials which benefits the environment.
With 3D printing, packing and shipping is also greatly changed. Companies now have the ability to produce custom packaging materials for their products. The retail products themselves can now be prototyped and produced with 3D printing, and even fully customized by consumers.