Yesterday, an IBD article on how GE -- General Electric -- sees 3D printers changing their manufacturing approach caught my eye:
General Electric (GE)
is expanding the uses for 3D printers and expects the emerging
 |
a model of a GE Jet engine made using "direct metal laser"
3D printing technology (Source: IBD, fair use) |
technology to "touch" more than half of its manufacturing in 20 years.
With business segments in aviation, energy technology, medical
equipment and home appliances, the industrial conglomerate's increasing
adoption of "additive manufacturing" could shake up printer makers 3D Systems (DDD), Stratasys (SSYS) and ExOne (XONE) as well as U.S. industry overall.
Less than 10% of GE's manufacturing uses 3D printing in some form
today, though that share should rise to 20% to 25% in 10 years and 50%
or more in 20 years, the company told IBD.
"I'm not saying that 25% of all parts will be 3D-printed, but that 3D
printing will touch it in some way," Christine Furstoss, GE's technical
director of manufacturing and materials technologies, told IBD in an
interview.
"Maybe it's the tool that we are using or the early prototypes we
make," Furstoss said. "We are committed to driving it in as many areas
as we can."
Notice, GE is already using 3D printing in its manufacturing, starting with design and development.
That is already telling us of yet another technological transformation "already in progress."
So, just what is 3D printing, why the fuss? Wiki:
Additive manufacturing or 3D printing[1] is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes.[2] 3D printing is also considered distinct from traditional machining techniques, which mostly rely on the removal of material by methods such as cutting or drilling (subtractive processes).
A materials printer usually performs 3D printing using digital
technology. The first working 3D printer was created in 1984 by Chuck
Hull of 3D Systems Corp.[3]
Since the start of the 21st century there has been a large growth in
the sales of these machines, and their price has dropped substantially.[4]
According to Wohlers Associates, a consultancy, the market for 3D
printers and services was worth $2.2 billion worldwide in 2012, up 29%
from 2011.[5]
The 3D printing technology is used for both prototyping and distributed manufacturing with applications in architecture, engineering, construction (AEC), industrial design, automotive, aerospace, military, engineering,
civil engineering, dental and medical industries, biotech (human tissue
replacement), fashion, footwear, jewelry, eyewear, education,
geographic information systems, food, and many other fields. It has been
speculated[6] that 3D printing may become a mass market item because open source
3D printing can easily offset their capital costs by enabling consumers
to avoid costs associated with purchasing common household objects.[7]
So it looks like a pool of liquid or powdered raw material or a tape is scanned layer by layer to incrementally build up a 3D object. Or, we can even have an extruding print head that prints shapes, layer by layer, building up the object -- how the molten metal printer can work.
Desai and Magloicca comment (with an emphasis on implications for intellectual property law):
Change
may be coming rapidly to the world of copyright and intellectual
property law thanks to new printers that create three-dimensional
objects at home and at work.
3D printing is the next step in general-purpose computing. The
technology is developing rapidly. The cost of printers is falling just
as the cost of personal computers did in the 1980s when they reached
homes and businesses of all sizes.
Editor’s note: The authors’ full research paper is available on the Social Science Research Network here.
The quality of printing is improving with new printers able to
print items made of plastic, metal, and even compounded chemicals.
Design software makes it simple to create an item and then print it.
Scanners allow someone without design skills to capture the contours of
an object and print it.
Read more at
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/science/3D_printers_The_next_intellectual_property_game_changer.html#roWfgFjry5BW3yAI.99
3D printing is the next step in general-purpose computing.
The technology is developing rapidly. The cost of printers is
falling just as the cost of personal computers did in the 1980s
when they reached homes and businesses of all sizes.
Editor’s note: The authors’ full research paper is available on
the Social Science Research Network here. [no embed . . . ]
The quality of printing is improving with new printers able to
print items made of plastic, metal, and even compounded
chemicals. Design software makes it simple to create an item
and then print it. Scanners allow someone without design
skills to capture the contours of an object and print it . . .
Change
may be coming rapidly to the world of copyright and intellectual
property law thanks to new printers that create three-dimensional
objects at home and at work.
3D printing is the next step in general-purpose computing. The
technology is developing rapidly. The cost of printers is falling just
as the cost of personal computers did in the 1980s when they reached
homes and businesses of all sizes.
Editor’s note: The authors’ full research paper is available on the Social Science Research Network here.
The quality of printing is improving with new printers able to
print items made of plastic, metal, and even compounded chemicals.
Design software makes it simple to create an item and then print it.
Scanners allow someone without design skills to capture the contours of
an object and print it.
Read more at
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/science/3D_printers_The_next_intellectual_property_game_changer.html#roWfgFjry5BW3yAI.99
Change
may be coming rapidly to the world of copyright and intellectual
property law thanks to new printers that create three-dimensional
objects at home and at work.
3D printing is the next step in general-purpose computing. The
technology is developing rapidly. The cost of printers is falling just
as the cost of personal computers did in the 1980s when they reached
homes and businesses of all sizes.
Editor’s note: The authors’ full research paper is available on the Social Science Research Network here.
The quality of printing is improving with new printers able to
print items made of plastic, metal, and even compounded chemicals.
Design software makes it simple to create an item and then print it.
Scanners allow someone without design skills to capture the contours of
an object and print it.
Read more at
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/science/3D_printers_The_next_intellectual_property_game_changer.html#roWfgFjry5BW3yAI.99
Abstract of the law journal paper:
Digitization
has reached things. This shift promises to alter the business and legal
landscape for a range of industries. Digitization has already disrupted
copyright-based industries and laws. As cost barriers dropped,
individuals engaged with copyrighted work as never before. The
business-to-business models of industrial copyright faltered and in some
cases failed. Industries had to reorganize, and claimed foundations for
copyright had to be re-examined. This Article examines a prime example
the next phase of digitization: 3D printing and it implications on
intellectual property law and practice.
3D printing is a
general-purpose technology that will do for physical objects what MP3
files did for music. The core patent bargain — sharing the plans on how
to make something in exchange for exclusivity — may be meaningless in a
world of digitized things. While these devices will unleash the
creativity of producers and reduce costs for consumers, they will also
make it far easier to infringe patents, copyrights, and trade dress.
This will force firms to rethink their business practices and courts to
reexamine not only patent doctrine but also long established doctrine in
areas ranging from copyright merger to trademark post-sale confusion.
Moreover, Congress will need to consider establishing some sort of
infringement exemption for 3D printing in the home and expanding the
notice-and takedown provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
to websites that host software enabling the 3D printing of patented
items and distinctive trade dress. While a 3D printer is not yet a
common household item, the time to start thinking about that future is
now.
The cynical comment on legal issues is: first, kill all the (troublesome) lawyers.
But we should take a pause, as if people cannot get a reasonable return, creative effort will dry up.
Maybe we need an open source DIY print and build movement, with an emphasis on helping bootstrap development, on the analogy of open source computing.
In which case, maybe a consortium of universities, research centres, development agencies and the like could come together to sponsor an open source industrial base developed through faculty and student projecys and inputs from the public spirited or even corporations doing an open source with proprietary add-ons or support services as a business model.
In any case already 3D printing is a billion-dollar plus market.
With US$ 299 kits and US$ 1,200 forges on sale at Amazon, this is already at the "in your school/office/ home" level.
Amazon's Flash Forge offering, US$ 1,200:
 |
| The Flash Forge |
Video, by Explaining The Future (notice the idea of 3D printed, personalised shoes made using this technology):
This is disruptive technology indeed, with all sorts of implications. (Unfortunately, not all of them are good, this can for instance be used to make weapons.)
Where this comes in, is that via digital technology, we are again moving to Industrial Civilisation 2.0 where a database of open designs with a cluster of modular general purpose manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing, can make a small town or an island with reasonable access, largely independent of having to import basic goods.
That points to an age where the crucial issue will be to have skilled people, not so much heavy industry. (Just think, the parts of a tractor, bus or truck are by and large fairly small and amenable to such techniques. And to others such as numerically controlled milling or lathes.)
So, where is development headed, and where should education go to keep up, in an age where digital productivity technologies are being repeatedly revolutionary and transformational?
Let us ponder . . . END
PS: I earlier inadvertently hit publish with a very incomplete article, sorry.
