Four years ago, the consumer 3D printer technology was at its hype curve. In fact, experts predicted that these technologies would drive disruptions across the manufacturing world. It was also established that 3D printing would become the primary foundation of a major industrial revolution.
After three years of watching different manufacturing firms establishing their new locations offshore and millions of employment opportunities gone, investors and policymakers are finally partnering to bring the industrial manufacturing sector back.
While this is factual, professionals in the industrial sector will not get it done only by competing for mass production at low costs. In contrast, to gain a competitive advantage in the market, the international market needs noble manufacturing techniques. Revered experts have identified some of the best enabling technologies that can lead to an industrial revolution in the manufacturing sector.
These technologies digitize various industrial processes, including big data, cloud computing, and finally, 3D printing, which is also known as additive manufacturing.
In the next paragraphs of this blog post, we shall focus more on consumer 3D printing and its applications to the production sector. We also bust a few myths based on the expectations vs. realities of this revolutionary technology.
Consumer 3D printing technology is a term used to give a brief description of specified technologies that provide benefits as well as costs to the manufacturing sector, with each segment at a different but specified level of maturity.
Expectations
3D printing is a popular subject in the media fraternity. This implies that there are public expectations that go beyond realistic prospects. Surprisingly, even prominent political leaders have been participating in the dissemination of facts appended to 3D technology. For many, it is a technology that can revolutionize the manufacturing sector.
Reality
With such expectations, it is vital to discern the non-realistic prospects from realistic advances. We speculate that the consumer 3D printing technology fell from grace the moment people realized that the printer’s capabilities weren’t as revolutionary as they may have thought in the first five years of introduction into the market. Almost half the population of the world made peace with the fact that they were still limited to their usual routines of knobs for dishwashers.
We are obviously optimistic about the future applications of consumer 3D printing. However, we also hold that there are a few misconceptions about how people will interact with technology. This subject should be discussed.
Essentially, there is a misconception around the consumer 3D printing technology- the consumer must own and know how to operate a 3D printer. To achieve this, the device has to be accessible and finally safe to use.
Nevertheless, as you may now know, after extensive research, it has been established that over a couple of years, 3D printers have not been giving the consumers value for their money. This does not imply that the technology is not valuable. In fact, emerging business professionals are embracing the subject. 3D printing is still a revolutionary technology in the manufacturing sector.
Bottom Line
In essence, the work required to create personalized products using 3D printing technology is pretty involving. Many consumers are confused. But, this blog highlights key useful aspects of the 3D printing technology. Since the technology is getting better every day, you’ll be elated to know that it has also been contributing to the mass production of different products.
