11; Who would have thought that modern manufacturing could be done without a factory? ; Since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing has been synonymous with factories, machine tools, production lines and economies of scale.;
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Who would have thought that modern manufacturing could be done without a factory?
Since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing has been synonymous with factories, machine tools, production lines and economies of scale.
So it is startling to think about manufacturing without tooling, assembly lines or supply chains.
However, that is what is emerging as the future of 3D printing services takes hold.
3D printing has been around for decades, better known as additive manufacturing (building an object layer by layer)
What’s new is that 3D printing has reached consumer-friendly price points and footprints, new materials and techniques are making new things possible.
Desktop 3D printing manufacturing technology can be done at home, the office, a hospital or a school, bringing manufacturing to non-manufacturers.
At the same time, 3D printing, long used for rapid prototyping, is being applied in a number of industries today, including aerospace and defense.
3D printing services are being used to create such things as topographical models, lighter airplane parts, aerodynamic car bodies and custom prosthetic devices.
In the future, it may be possible for the military to print replacement parts right on the battlefield instead of having to rely on limited spares .