The 3-D Printing Playbook

by Richard A. D’Aveni

A NEW ERA IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, or “3-D printing,” is at hand, with major implications for adoption of the technology and for business models that companies can use in taking the plunge. In the three years since I last wrote about the field for HBR (“The 3-D Printing Revolution,” May 2015), additive’s growing capabilities, together with expansion in both the materials available and the supplier ecosystem, have made it possible to affordably produce a much broader range of things—from the soles of running shoes to turbine blades—often in much higher volumes. The technology provides an unprecedented ability to customize products and respond quickly to shifts in market demand. As a result, it ...

Get HBR's 10 Must Reads on AI, Analytics, and the New Machine Age (with bonus article "Why Every Company Needs an Augmented Reality Strategy" by Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann) now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.