CHAPTER NINEAdopting 3D Printing
By now it should be clear that 3D printing is not a passing fad or merely a technology for tomorrow: the revolution in manufacture is here, knocking on the door. In many sectors, it is already through that door, an integral part of supply chains. All indications are that this trend is accelerating: 1,768 metal 3D printing systems were sold globally in 2017 compared to 983 in 2016, an increase of some 80%.1 For those companies already using it, the results have been impressive, if not outright transformative, and many industries are being radically changed today while others soon will be. As was the case with those traditional hearing aid companies that refused to adapt to 3D printing, firms that ignore it will simply be put out of business, overtaken by those that either prepare for it or use 3D printing to make better things, designed more closely to their customers' precise needs, with faster end-to-end cycle times, closer to those customers and at a lower overall cost. 3D printing will also play a growing role in mass manufacturing, lowering the cost and timescales in that area through its use in the manufacture of molds, while offering those firms using traditional manufacturing techniques a means to have jigs, fixtures, and other tools customized to the precise needs of their equipment both faster and more cheaply.
As with all major operational changes, the first step is to establish that there is a need for that change, that there is some ...