During the first 20 years of 3-D printing, the technology was slow and expensive. Its primary use was prototyping by printing plastic parts from digital designs. Today, 3-D printing is finally starting to be utilized for high-volume, mass production.
For all the hype around 3-D printing half a decade ago, actual 3-D printers were disappointing: most consumers didn’t want the things that 3-D printers made, and manufacturers wanted things that 3-D printers couldn’t make at all.
Desktop Metal, a startup in Burlington, Massachusetts, is building printers that make metal parts.
Advanced manufacturers like GE manage huge printers, which can cost more than a million dollars, to make a limited number of high-value parts. Their machines use lasers or electron beams to fuse metal powders into complicated shapes.
3-D metal printers will overturn those old standards by improving assembly lines, supply chains and mass production. Today, a company might build engines in one factory and medical imaging devices in another. By mid-century, a manufacturer will be able to build each product at either location and adapt it to the local market by printing most of the parts and doing final assembly on site. Because the cost of printing does not vary no matter how many parts are made, innovation in manufacturing will be cheaper and faster.
