For the last several decades, technological progress has had the great impact on the world around. Innovations that seemed to be a scientific fantasy just half a century ago now become part of everybody’s life. The results of technological progress completely change not only the humans’ way of life, but also manufacturing and business processes. One of such modern inventions is 3D printer. The 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, relates to various processes used for creation a three-dimensional object. It is based on the principle of “cutting” the virtual 3D object in a few 2D slices and then printing the real 3D object slice by slice. Each of the slices has a given thickness, and when they are printed one on another, the real object becomes more voluminous with every next slide. The 3D printing is a rather new invention that has not fully integrated into society yet. While some experts advise not getting too excited about 3D printers, the others predict the rapid beginnings of the third industrial revolution. Indeed, 3D printing is the innovation that could completely turn the world. However, how could it change the business industry? And how is it used nowadays? The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the modern business usage of 3D printers and to analyze future directions of this usage and its expected impact on the business world.
For a start, it is worth noting the areas where 3D printing is used nowadays. Two years ago, The Guardian published an article that gave an overview of the thirty things 3D printing was really used for. The author of the article, a technology journalist Stuart Dredge, concentrated on “the ‘what can you actually make with them’ question“ and wrote about RAF Tornado fighter jet parts, arms for children, models of the British football stadiums, Honda concept cars, “skin’n’bones,” flowers, and even houses (Dredge, 2014). The usage of 3D printing also included production of toys, jewelry, guitars, etc. In other words, two years ago, 3D printing was used almost everywhere, and now its application field is even bigger. It means that 3D printing can become a part of every business area, and, thus, influence on its financial placements and profit.
Talking about the business benefits of 3D printers, it is important to mention their financial advantages. Of course, a high-quality 3D printer is not a cheap acquisition. According to the Senvol Database, prices of the additive manufacturing machines, mostly range from $15,000 to $1,000,000 (Thu, 2015). It is a large-scale range, but it is worth remembering that the price of the suitable for one or another manufacturing 3D printer also depends on the complexity of work it aimed to provide and size and materials of ultimate products. For instance, the complexity of making toys and innards significantly differs from each other, and the prices on appropriate additive manufacturing machines also significantly differ. Under such conditions, not every businessman will be ready to spend a huge sum of money on the innovative machine that makes the same ultimate product as the present manufacturing system. However, a 3D printer is the invention that rapidly pays for itself. At first, the usage of a 3D printer dramatically reduces running costs. Paul Doe, chief designer at motorsport technology designers Prodrive, calculated expenses on one of his car projects with and without the usage of 3D printing and compared them with each other. He states, “We’re able to build shapes that you can’t mould cast or forge – pieces you can’t make in any other way but through additive manufacturing. This allows us to avoid fixed costs and it means we don’t have to carry stock because we can manufacture parts on demand” (Hall, 2013). The 3D printer allowed Doe to save about £80,000, but it was not the only financial economy of the Doe’s company. The printer allowed printing not only the car parts, but also its own tools. Talking about it, Doe says, “Modification of pieces of tooling – which previously would have cost around £10,000 – we can now print for £10” (Hall, 2013). At last, the prices on 3D printers dramatically fall with every next year. The key reason for this fall is technological progress itself. 3D printers become more technologically advanced, and the previous models rapidly go out of date and become more affordable.
3D printers have already started to transform the business world, even if not on a massive scale. Nowadays, the 3D printing technology is not used universally. According to Wile, in 2014, only about 12% of firms have already used 3D printers for their business operations, and 95% of 3D printing is used to manufacture small industrial details (Wile, 2014). However, with every next year, the amount of this firms increases, and the range of using of 3D printers widens. The necessity of the 3D printing technology becomes more and more obvious. In 2013, the United States President Barack Obama founded the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute and underlined the importance of the 3D printing technology for the further development of the country. Quoting Obama, Wile states, “A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything” (Wile, 2014).
3D printers will definitely affect the further development and organization of the manufacturing processes and, hence, business. Quoting the information from the website On 3D Printing, Thompson states, “The 3D printing industry is expected to change nearly every industry it touches, completely disrupting the traditional manufacturing process. As a result, the projected value of the industry is expected to explode in the near future” (Thompson, 2016). The website also predicts that the 3D printing market will grow to $5,2 billion by 2020. The major changes are expected to deal with material cost savings, incremental cost calculations, and transformation of pricing strategies. Regarding material cost savings, it is worth noting that 3D technologies are very precise. Using of “subtractive processes” allows keeping remaining after the manufacturing materials and reusing them for further manufacturing needs. Also, “additive” 3D printing means that a manufacturing process requires the minimum amount of materials. Zero wasted resources eventually drive down total material costs. Generally, it means that manufacturers could reduce the capital they tie up in raw materials and waste management. Talking about incremental cost calculations, a noteworthy detail is that even if the cost of 3D printer could reach millions of dollars, the ultimate product of 3D manufacturing could cost less than the ultimate product made traditionally. Material cost savings let manufacturers decrease incremental costs. If the prices of 3D manufacturing ultimate products fall, they will be more preferable among consumers, and, hence, 3D manufacturing could supersede traditional manufacturing processes. The way industrial manufacturing is done nowadays could change completely. Furthermore, the traditional assembly line and close cooperation between sales teams and production teams could become more flexible. According to Thompson, “With 3D printing, the production team is given greater flexibility since assembly is a single operation and set up time is reduced to nearly zero. Due to flexibility in this new assembly line process, sales reps would be able to push orders through faster and in a greater capacity” (Thompson, 2016). 3D printing significantly reduces the time and costs of manufacturing processes.
However, it is important to understand that shorter manufacturing time and lower costs do not mean that companies could not continue to collect value from a strategic pricing process. The prices may remain the same due to uniqueness of 3D printing products, and, hence, the profit may be bigger. Thus, price formation processes may be multifarious depending on expected cost savings, securing business, and market competition.
Furthermore, the 3D printing technology will significantly affect the labor market. Esther Dyson thinks that the further development and spreading of 3D printers will lead to disappearing of stores and replacing them with numerous 3D print shops (Wile, 2014). Due to computers and the Internet, everybody could choose the desirable product and their characteristics, and the necessity in shops will become irrelevant. There will be no blue collars and shop sellers, but there will be new high-skilled jobs and new start-ups.
In his article “3-D Printing Will Change the World,” D’Aveni states, “3-D printing really is ushering in a new era” (D’Aveni, 2013). Another way 3D printing could change the manufacturing processes lies in the manufacturing places. Nowadays, the place with the biggest amount of plants and factories is China. A lot of international manufacturers have Chinese productions that let them reduce manufacturing and labor costs. However, 3D printing could change the manufacturing distribution. 3D printing is small-scale manufacturing with wide distribution and high flexibility The United States of America and other Western countries could get an opportunity to make their own weight in manufacturing field. China, the United States, and other nations will have a domestic market aimed to serve for local needs. Spreading of the 3D printing could move the mass-manufacturing balance from the East to the whole world.
Maxwell gives five major business benefits 3D printing could bring. The first one is the avoidance of mass production. Quoting Dr. Phil Reeves, managing director of a global 3D printing consultancy Econolyst, Maxwell writes, “With 3D printing you can economically produce low-volume batches down to a size of one, because the economics of making one are exactly the same as making 100 or 1,000” (Maxwell, 2012). The 3D printing technology can nullify the necessity of mass-production of an item and turn it into a cost-effective enterprise. The second one is the creation of complex components. The 3D printing manufactures products designed on the computer, and the computer allows people designing complicated, even illogical shapes that cannot be made by machining or moulding. Thus, the variety of wares increases. The third one is the ability to personalize. Every product could be personalized under desires and financial capacities of its customers. They could choose materials, size, and color of targeted products. The fourth one is greener manufacturing. Additive manufacturing lets companies sell only the designs of their products and gives customers the opportunity to 3D print them. Thus, the need in transportation reduces. The company saves the delivery and fuel costs and, thus, reduces fuel pollutant emission. Together with the absence of waste resources, it makes the environment cleaner. The last one is escaping supply chain risk. Quoting Reeves, Maxwell states, “In a traditional business you start with market research, you go through product development and then you launch your product, someone pays you for it and you deliver it. Well, that’s all being completely reconfigured because we can 3D print the order” (Maxwell, 2012). The 3D printing takes away the risk of nontraded commodities; the goods appear only after consumers pay for them. The seller can sub-contract the 3D printing of his products to any bureau in the world. The using of 3D printing will lead to “a cash-positive business with no capital investment” (Maxwell, 2012).
Every new technological generation overweight the drawbacks of the previous generations due to additional capabilities. A significant part of the modern inventions is based on the idea of the 3D printing technology. Taking into account changes that additive manufacturing could bring to manufacturing and business industries, D’Aveni states, “In the midst of all this change, new strategies are required” (D’Aveni, 2015). The impact of 3D printers on strategists has two major applications. First, “timelines based on earlier generations of additive manufacturing may be too conservative” (D’Aveni, 2015). The major question is not the adoption of 3D printing but the time of this adoption. Second, “strategists will have to consider not only which technology to run with, but also whether to collaborate with these next generation pioneers” (D’Aveni, 2015). Partnership with technological giants that promise to release mass manufacturing of 3D printers could give earlier access and following market advantage, but at the same time, there is a risk that schedule promises will not be kept. These applications are on top of the complexity that additive manufacturing has brought to current manufacturing processes. In his article “The Time to Think About the 3D-Printed Future Is Now,” D’Aveni asks, “What’s the proper mix of traditional “subtractive” methods with the new additive approaches? How much risk should a firm take on now, versus what’s the risk if you wait?” (D’Aveni, 2015). The 3D printing and the following manufacturing changes will force strategists to reconsider their plans and ideas, and they should be ready for the work that will fall on their shoulders.
Nowadays, the impact of 3D printing on manufacturing processes is just a theory. According to Wile, only about 12% of modern firms use the 3D printing technologies in their business operations and about 40% do not even have plans to implement the 3D printing in their organizations (Wile, 2014). However, the manufacturers who ignore the possible benefits of 3D printers and changes they could bring to the future of manufacturing processes risk failing. The 3D printing has almost endless production possibilities. It will influence the whole organization of the modern manufacture and business operations and could possibly start the third industrial revolution. If this happens, and there is a big chance it will, company strategists and business owners will have a heck of a job to adapt to new for them changes and, what is more serious, to adapt to them in time. The mass using of 3D printing technologies will destroy a lot of jobs and create a lot of new ones, will change the ideas of mass production and delivery, provide faster and cheaper manufacture. It is going to be a completely new world of production and business dealing, and to succeed there it is important not to miss the moment when the 3D printing technology moves from the individual using to the market and becomes global.
References
D’Aveni, Richard. (March 2013). “3-D Printing Will Change the World.” Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/03/3-d-printing-will-change-the-world
D’Aveni, Richard. (06 May 2015). “The Time to Think About the 3D-Printed Future Is Now.” Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-time-to-think-about-the-3d-printed-future-is-now
Dredge, Stuart. (29 Jan 2014). “30 things being 3D printed right now (and none of them are guns).” The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/29/3d-printing-limbs-cars-selfies
Hall, Kathleen. (Feb 2013). “How 3D printing impacts manufacturing.” Computer Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/How-3D-printing-impacts-manufacturing
Maxwell, Chris. (1 Jun 2012). “3D Printing: The five business benefits.” Director. Retrieved from http://www.director.co.uk/8294-3d-printing-business-technology-expert-explained-five-business-tips/
Thompson, Barrett. (Jan 2016). “How 3D Printing Will Impact The Manufacturing Industry.” Manufacturing Business Technology. Retrieved from http://www.mbtmag.com/article/2016/01/how-3d-printing-will-impact-manufacturing-industry
Thu, Andrew Wheeler. (9 Apr 2015). “How Much Does Every Industrial 3D Printer Cost? Ask the Senvol Database.” 3D Printing Industry. Retrieved from http://3dprintingindustry.com/2015/04/09/how-much-does-every-industrial-3d-printer-cost-ask-the-senvol-database/
Wile, Rob. (4 Sep 2014). “This Technology Could Have The Biggest Impact On American Jobs Since Offshoring.” Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/how-3d-printing-will-affect-manufacturing-jobs-2014-8
