Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Now clients prefer three dimensions. “We make architectural models and
product prototypes for architectural and engineering irms. Our clients like to
have something physical they can show to a client and pass around the table.”
ABC Imaging has been in business since 1982. About 5 years ago, the
company hired John to run their growing 3D modeling and rapid prototyping
business. John studied geology and geophysics at Rice University in the 1990s
and was introduced to 3D printing early in his career when he worked at a
irm that produced three-dimensional geographic maps.
ABC Imaging's DC-based headquarters gleams with pride and attention to
detail, from its carefully organized website to the immaculate glass-topped
Scandinavian-style table in its main conference room. From a single print
shop in DC, the company has grown into 35 hubs and 550 employees in
cities worldwide. After we completed our introductions, John led me back
into ABC's production area. ABC's main printer room was as big as a good-
sized classroom with a comfortable neo-industrial lavor. ABC employees in
business-casual clothing tended several whirring large-bed industrial-scale
2D color printers.
I asked John whether he thought of 3D printing as a printing process or
more like manufacturing. John paused and said, “I think that the name '3D
printing' is almost a marketing term. 3D printing is manufacturing—it can
be a dirty and messy physical process. We use chemicals, and depending on
what I'm doing in here, sometimes I wear a gas mask.”
ABC Imaging owns several different models of industrial-grade 3D printers
that are scattered around the world in different company locations. In the DC
headquarters, the company's small 3D printing “factory” was tucked into the
corner of the main production area behind several staff desks and cubicles. This
brightly lit, glass-walled room was once the company's kitchenette and staff
break room. Two medium-scale industrial 3D printers covered most of one wall.
John runs ABC's printing services using high-end printers that fabricate a
detailed, color model in a day or two. Production timelines vary, depending on
the complexity of the model and whether the customer's design ile is a rough,
untested irst draft or a watertight and, hence, printable design. Most printed
prototypes are made in white. Some models and maps, however, are printed in
color.
