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In-Depth Information
The hype - what is realistic?
“3D printing will change absolutely everything it touches” (Forbes), “The end of the made-
in-China era” (Motley Fool), “3-D Printing will change the world” (Harvard Business
Review) - these are examples of articles from the beginning of the 10s, all adding to the 3D
printing hype. The overall message is that 3D printing will democratize and localize pro-
duction. China will lose its edge, since production will relocate to the west. Consumers will
print products at home instead of buying it from a store. Designs will be shipped electronic-
ally all around the world instead of physical items, since it will be possible to print out the
products on a 3D printer at any place with electricity and an internet connection.
Sensational 3D printed objects like “livers”, “houses”, “cars”, “shark skin” etc. are also em-
phasized in the hype generating articles while the technological flaws and setbacks are hid-
den at the end of the article. Everything is not hype though, some people have also bashed
3D printing. Terry Gou, the CEO of the Iphone-maker Foxconn, famously called 3D print-
ing a gimmick when he denounced that it ever will become the “third industrial revolution”:
“3D printing is a gimmick” “if it really is that good, then I'll write my surname Gou back-
It should also be said that a lot of the hype in media have been concerning consumer desktop
printers. There is a great divide between low-cost printers for consumers and 3D printing on
an industrial scale. If there was a bubble in 3D printing it has been more on the consumer
side than the industrial side. Kickstarter has literally been exploding with new 3D printer
projects in the last few years, all of these projects will surely not survive the competition. As
of 2014 there were more 2D printers sold in one day than all the 3D printers being sold dur-
[xi]
ing a whole year
.
There are legitimate questions raised concerning consumer 3D printers:
What are you supposed to do with it? What is that you can print that is not cheaper and easily
available at your local supermarket. It is these questions that the growing Makers commu-
nity is trying to answer, but is it really relevant for the average consumer to try to find the
answer?
As for industrial 3D printing, it has come a long way in 30 years, but truth is that 3D printing
is far from competing with mass production, and probably never will. 3D printers are too
slow for producing large series of products, and that is a hurdle that will be hard to over-
