3-D printing can convert digital design files to tangible products in a matter of hours. And the technology is evolving so fast that retail outlets may be forced to rethink their business models just to survive, according to researchers.

Today designers, engineers and architects use 3-D printers to create scale models of wide-ranging concepts. Current advanced applications of rapid prototyping are applied in a number of fields, not the least of which is in the military, which uses the technology to produce spare parts such as mounts for machine guns.

But some researchers propose the technology could revolutionize the way consumers purchase goods.

In a recent issue of the Inderscience publication International Journal of Technology Marketing, physicist Phil Anderson of the School of Theoretical and Applied Science working with Cherie Ann Sherman of the Anisfield School of Business, both at Ramapo College of New Jersey, wrote the following:

3-D printing, which is just now becoming affordable to small businesses and potentially to the individual consumer, can convert digital files to tangible products in only a few hours. This technology, which would enable digital files representing a physical product to be sent via the internet and fabricated at the time and place chosen by the consumer, has the potential to disrupt existing business models for product distribution.

“The systems available are based on a bath of liquid plastic, which is solidified by laser light,” reports Azom.com of the recent study. “The movements of the laser are controlled by a computer that reads a digitized 3-D map of the solid object or design.”

If you’re new to this concept, some history might make this new technology a little more meaningful: In 1950, mathematician, John von Neumann, theorized that a “universal constructor” might be built. In this era, prototypes were made by creating forms or molds, filling them with some material to harden and machining them to spec after they cooled. Along came computers, PCs and later computer printers.

“The first commercial rapid prototyping machine was introduced in 1986,” according to product development consultant Polyradial. The following year, 3-D Systems unveiled the world’s very first rapid prototyping device, according to Manufacturing Engineering.

Some creative person realized that if multiple colors can be laid down in two dimensions, we should be able to do the same with three dimensions and simultaneously replace ink with other materials that would harden after flowing out the end of a dispenser.

Today’s fabricators are creating a range of objects via 3-D printing: sports equipment, kitchen utensils, watchbands and silicone squeeze bulbs. Some sculptors use the technology to produce complex shapes for fine-arts exhibitions. When these devices get bigger, people can download “such complex objects as bicycles, chemical sensors, radios — and eventually robots, and maybe even prosthetic limbs,” explains IEEE Spectrum.

This may seem far-fetched, but the beauty of this technology is that the business world is developing the technology — including materials that are more dispensable — bringing it closer for amateur designers or simply those who prefer to “download” whatever they want.

About 85 rapid prototyping companies are serving 5,000 to 7,000 customers, according to Wohlers Associates. And nearly four years ago, the business fab sector was nearly a billion-dollar-a-year industry,” according to Manufacturing Engineering. These companies’ development of stronger materials and more precise fabbers broadens the range of materials and extends the tolerances to which parts can be created.

Although such technology already exists, it is maturing so rapidly that “high-tech designers and others can share solid designs almost as quickly as sending a fax,” notes Azom.com.

In fact, writing in the International Journal of Technology Marketing, Anderson and Sherman suggest the following 3-D printing options for what could happen in the consumer marketplace when the technology lowers in price, as paraphrased by New Scientist:

Advertising-Based
Users could download free files and print trial models of jewelry or other products that benefit from being seen in context. Scale models of larger items (such as houses or cars for sale) — not unlike those made by designers with 3-D printers today — could also be printed.

Merchant Model
People could buy spare parts for their broken technology online and print them out at home. This would allow manufacturers to cut out the intermediary (i.e., the middleman).

Production Model
Manufacturers could sell files for any number of various types of products, once again cutting out the retail middle man.

Kiosk-Based
3-D printers could become established in copying stores as a kind of futuristic vending machine.

From the business perspective, e-commerce sites will essentially become digital download sites with physical stores, retail employees and shipping eliminated.

Cheap fabricators could allow people to turn away from the commercial market for many things. If Anderson and Sherman are correct, retail outlets would be forced to rethink their business models just to survive.

Earlier: Rapid Prototyping Shows Few Signs of Slowing

Resources

Cheap Systems Seek to Bring 3-D Printing to the Masses
by Alan S. Brown
Mechanical Engineering, June 2007

Desktop Fabricator May Kick-Start Home Revolution
by Tom Simonite
New Scientist, January 2007

Soon You Will Be Able to Print Solid Objects at Home
Azom, Sept. 25, 2007

Overview
Fab@Home, May 22, 2007

Homemade
by Hod Lipson
IEEE Spectrum, May, 2005

Rapid Prototyping: A True Tool for Change
by Todd Grimm
Manufacturing Engineering, April 2004

A Very Brief History of Rapid Prototyping (RP)
by Jeff Krause
Polyradial, Nov. 28, 1998