4 ms·

If printing is significantly cheaper than producing the object, industries that manufacture the products will just switch to printing, and mass printing will su

by Fargren 15y ago

If printing is significantly cheaper than producing the object, industries that manufacture the products will just switch to printing, and mass printing will surely let them make a cheaper product than the one you'd make at home. At that point, the only advantage printing gives is convenience. And you can compete with convenience.

wladimir 15y ago
Or they'll switch to producing the "ink" for the printers, as that's also a pretty non-trivial business from what I've understood (and will even be more so when 3d printers can print more advanced objects). 3d printing will be a win for convenience and personalization, but not for cost, certainly not if you want to produce zillions of equal objects.
- kansface 15y ago
  As it stands, the printing materials are the main money makers for several processes.
nightski 15y ago
Well mass production works because a singe product is produced a massive scale. With a 3D printer I can print whatever I would like. Sure a factory could be created that would 3D print things on demand, but I would have to imagine that distribution costs would be a big factor even if it was cheaper to mass produce.
nextparadigms 15y ago
I don't think that will happen smoothly. They have massive investments in doing things differently right now. If that that were to happen at all, it would happen gradually, and the ones who will resist it the most will probably try to fight it legally, too.
quandrum 15y ago
Remember, they have to be able to beat the cost of printing at home with printing + shipping + retailing, and any other middle-man involved. And they also have to beat the cost of instant gratification vs shopping/ordering and the time that involves. 3D printing is great because it cuts out so many people I have to deal with, either directly or indirectly.
- andylei 15y ago
  > printing + shipping + retailing, and any other middle-man involved > printing they're going to murder you on cost here. you'll print maybe X things a day. they're going to print a million times that. they'll for sure have more efficient machines, and their supply costs are going to be way lower than theirs. don't like middle men? think about having to buy small quantities of plastic / copper / miscellaneous raw materials. some middle man is going to sell that to you. the factories won't have to deal with that since they can buy massive quantities directly from producers. > shipping you'll have to pay for the shipping costs of small quantities of raw materials. that will likely mitigate any advantage you have here. > retailing it may not be a brick and mortar retailer; you might upload your spec to a website and it'd get shipped to you. in that case, if they're smart, their retail costs will be very low. also, you have to pay retail prices for your raw materials.
nickpinkston 15y ago
I'm glad that you posted this. As someone who has a 3D printing startup (CloudFab), we can see that the space is very over hyped right now. 3D printing is an awesome thing, but it's not the panacea that some are making it. The ink jet printer democratized printing yes, but we still use massive equipment to produce books and newspapers efficiently. Few things are as commodity as computer chips / servers - and really even those aren't really. Engineering is about optimizing for a problem - one-offs are one problem, and mass production is another. There are companies like SinterMask trying to make production grade 3D printing, and the machines are huge in order to do this. Also, no one is mentioning that there are significant materials science issues that come up in making actually consumer products. Apple has set the bar so far that regular mass production hasn't caught up - let alone these new technologies.

by Fargren 15y ago

wladimir 15y ago

Or they'll switch to producing the "ink" for the printers, as that's also a pretty non-trivial business from what I've understood (and will even be more so when 3d printers can print more advanced objects). 3d printing will be a win for convenience and personalization, but not for cost, certainly not if you want to produce zillions of equal objects.

kansface 15y ago
As it stands, the printing materials are the main money makers for several processes.

nightski 15y ago

Well mass production works because a singe product is produced a massive scale. With a 3D printer I can print whatever I would like. Sure a factory could be created that would 3D print things on demand, but I would have to imagine that distribution costs would be a big factor even if it was cheaper to mass produce.

nextparadigms 15y ago

I don't think that will happen smoothly. They have massive investments in doing things differently right now. If that that were to happen at all, it would happen gradually, and the ones who will resist it the most will probably try to fight it legally, too.

quandrum 15y ago

Remember, they have to be able to beat the cost of printing at home with printing + shipping + retailing, and any other middle-man involved. And they also have to beat the cost of instant gratification vs shopping/ordering and the time that involves. 3D printing is great because it cuts out so many people I have to deal with, either directly or indirectly.

andylei 15y ago
> printing + shipping + retailing, and any other middle-man involved > printing they're going to murder you on cost here. you'll print maybe X things a day. they're going to print a million times that. they'll for sure have more efficient machines, and their supply costs are going to be way lower than theirs. don't like middle men? think about having to buy small quantities of plastic / copper / miscellaneous raw materials. some middle man is going to sell that to you. the factories won't have to deal with that since they can buy massive quantities directly from producers. > shipping you'll have to pay for the shipping costs of small quantities of raw materials. that will likely mitigate any advantage you have here. > retailing it may not be a brick and mortar retailer; you might upload your spec to a website and it'd get shipped to you. in that case, if they're smart, their retail costs will be very low. also, you have to pay retail prices for your raw materials.

nickpinkston 15y ago

I'm glad that you posted this. As someone who has a 3D printing startup (CloudFab), we can see that the space is very over hyped right now. 3D printing is an awesome thing, but it's not the panacea that some are making it. The ink jet printer democratized printing yes, but we still use massive equipment to produce books and newspapers efficiently. Few things are as commodity as computer chips / servers - and really even those aren't really. Engineering is about optimizing for a problem - one-offs are one problem, and mass production is another. There are companies like SinterMask trying to make production grade 3D printing, and the machines are huge in order to do this. Also, no one is mentioning that there are significant materials science issues that come up in making actually consumer products. Apple has set the bar so far that regular mass production hasn't caught up - let alone these new technologies.