If ever there was a technology that promised a lot and then seemed to fizzle out, it is 3D printing. An exciting concept, 3D printing has nevertheless so far failed to go mainstream in the average enterprise environment. However that does not mean there are not interesting things going on with potential for more to come.
From bespoke medical devices to aircraft and car parts, to 3D printers that are capable of printing their own spare parts, much is happening on the print trays of the 3D world. Gartner recently published research which suggested 3D printer shipments will more than double every year between 2016 and 2019, reaching more than 5.6 million by the end of the decade.
106,761 3D printers were sold worldwide in 2014, with 244,533 units expected to ship this year. 2016 should see that number almost double. So where are these printers going, and are many or any of them destined for the enterprise environment?
Technology limitations
For many larger companies, it is not that 3D printers are not attractive, but rather their slow print rate and limited size functions to limit their appeal.
“When our customers talk to us about 3D printing, we typically hear that they are still in a medium to long term investigation phase as to commercial viability. Many enterprises are still trying to figure out where 3D printers could work for them, and what the different needs different parts of the organisation have are,” said Gareth Parker, strategic marketing manager for the UK and Ireland with Ricoh.
For some it will be for in-house print facilities and ownership of hardware and for others it may be a service-based approach instead. According to Parker, a central part of Ricoh’s plans to take ground in the 3D space is to target specific industries.
“It won’t come as a surprise that these include aerospace, defence, healthcare and manufacturing because these are areas that have fuelled demand recently in 3D printing. And this is also where we’ve seen the slow but consistent development of interest in additive manufacturing for 3D printing, particularly in plastics,” he said.
What can be done with 3D printing has evolved enormously in a relatively short period of time but despite this, the perennial question of whether 3D printers will ever be common objects found in enterprise offices is a difficult one to answer.
“I don’t think there’s a simple answer to that question but I don’t see it happening between now and 2020. Even if you look at some of the more bullish market expectations from analysts, you can see that there’s plenty of disagreement on this when it comes to 3D printing around the world.”
Education adoption
Parker believes that reduced access costs will drive adoption at the low end of the market particularly in verticals such as education, where the role and potential of 3D printing has been well documented.
“However, where we see real interest is from long term research industries such as manufacturing, aerospace and defence. These are areas where you have people who will take time to invest in research to find where technology can really make a difference.
“So for example we’ve had a number of conversations privately with aerospace and defence companies where they’re looking at how prototyping component parts can effect positively the supply chain, stock and storage aspects of their business. But interestingly what’s coming out of that slightly longer term view is a new set of concerns around the durability of items.”
Material concerns
Ricoh predominantly works with plastics in its 3D print and additive manufacturing activities rather than metal, and the message it is getting is that finding the appropriate uses of one over the other is difficult for many of its customers. Physically facilitating easy access to 3D print hardware is only the beginning of the process. It is only through mass adoption and use that the best ways to use the various kinds of technologies will be discovered.
“At this stage it’s interesting to see how these industries are trying to make sense of how each one can fit into their particular demands and I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all approach to it. It’s easy to see how the ideal set up should work with, say, the medical end of the business but when it comes to the commercial business side of things, we’re seeing a lot more diversity in terms of people looking for industry specific areas in their business.”
Parker says this is particularly true when it comes to the supply chain, where companies are trying to improve how they build component parts in order to improve durability and speed to market.
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