Big Picture - May 2016 - (Page 20)

Can Print Shops Benefit from BY EILEEN FRITSCH 3D triggering businesses, products, and jobs we can't yet imagine, Hornick says 3D printing will raise complex issues for brand owners, law enforcement agencies, and governments. Like 2D printing, 3D printing is a catch-all phrase for many different processes. While some 3D printers use "jetting" technologies that have evolved from inkjet printing, many use processes that aren't like printing at all. For example, devices that use direct and selective laser sintering melt metal powder to form the object. Over the next 20 years, thousands of different types and sizes of 3D printers may be developed. The goal is to take 3D printing beyond modeling and rapid prototyping and bring it into the vast realm of product manufacturing. Students currently experimenting with 3D printers in classrooms may grow up believing that 3D printing is the most efficient, least wasteful method of making things. For product manufacturing, there won't be a one-size-fits-all printer. Smaller printers will be used in homes, garages, schools, and libraries. Service bureaus and corporations will use bigger, faster, professional-grade 3D printers that can work with a variety of materials. Manufacturers will use industrial-grade 3D printers that print metals, electronics, or highly specialized materials. Healthcare organizations will use "bio-printing" materials to make replacement organs or prosthetics. BIG PICTURE May 2016 WHAT ROLE WILL PRINT SHOPS PLAY? 20 U ntil now, the 3D printers at ISA, Graph Expo, and SGIA have been box-like devices that slowly print small models and doodads. That's about to change, as larger, faster, more versatile 3D-printing devices will make it practical to offer 3D-printing services. Before determining what types of services to offer, you must first understand that 3D printing isn't really about "printing." In his book, "3D Printing Will Rock the World," intellectual property attorney John Hornick explains why 3D printing may become one of the most disruptive technologies in human history. He cites dozens of ways it's revolutionizing manufacturing, healthcare, architecture, and design. In addition to Hundreds of 3D-printing service bureaus already exist, Hornick says. Some are traditional machine shops that have added 3D printers to their capabilities. Other "fab labs" are focused entirely on 3D printing and have been doing rapid prototyping for years. Most 3D-printing bureaus serve local companies, because 3D printing makes it possible to manufacture parts close to where they will be used. As 3D printers become bigger, faster, and more capable, manufacturers will no longer have to spend huge amounts of time, energy, and money to ship products from a centralized factory to stores and consumers throughout the US. Instead, manufacturers can deliver the digital files to a 3D printer in a local service bureau or in the consumer's home. While this 3D printing scenario will disrupt retailing and long-haul trucking, it has already attracted the attention of three organizations with expertise in home deliveries: The UPS Store, Amazon, and the United States Postal Service. "If I were already in the printing business, I would study which 3D-printing technology is appropriate for the type of work I'm already doing," Hornick says. For graphics companies that already use inkjet printers to make short runs of customized products, 3D printing might be a natural fit.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - May 2016

Big Picture - May 2016
Contents
Insight
Wide Angle
Upfront
Business + Management
Outside the Gamut
Can Print Shops Benefit from 3D Printing?
Beyond Water
R+D
Explorer

Big Picture - May 2016