When I started my Industrial Design degree in 2007 the workshop there already had several large, commercial 3D printers for student use. Mind you they were not

When I started my Industrial Design degree in 2007 the workshop there already had several large, commercial 3D printers for student use. Mind you they were nothing like the tabletop consumer ones we have today. They were about the same of a large American refrigerator. Since it was not really any special or amazing for us to have several of them, I have to imagine that industrial 3D printing capabilities were well established by the point. Edit: as I recall they were mostly used to make parts which could be given a nice surface finish and then from which silicone molds could be made.