3 ms·

There are many kinds of 3d printing that would be amazing, but that we are nowhere near close enough to doing. First we have to see the same technology working

by hibikir 13y ago

There are many kinds of 3d printing that would be amazing, but that we are nowhere near close enough to doing. First we have to see the same technology working well in factory environments. For instance, imagine a machine that manufactured clothes in place, tailored to your size, by just scanning you and taking a base design. Say goodbye to all the complex inventory problems that you find in clothing retail today, all while increasing sales, because in other stores, what they have might nor might not fit you well. That kind of printing by retailers seems like a more likely incremental step towards major economic change than having it all work off of home printing. We don't make anywhere near enough purchases out there of 100% plastic items, or where plastic could be a viable replacement.

JetSpiegel 13y ago
Printing clothes on demand will never work. Those already exist today. You can have a tailor make you a suit, and it's a special thing only for you. Most people don't want that, they want to wear what their friends and idols wear, so it's not feasible to shift production to 3D printers, so that they print the same thing over and over again. Our current system requires no further investment.
- easong 13y ago
  Getting a tailor to custom-make your entire wardrobe is wayyy outside of the financial capabilities of almost everyone except the very very wealthy today. In the 40s one might as well have said that handheld calculators will never work - we can always have the women ("calculators") down the hall crunch the numbers for us! Having a machine that, given the correct fabric, can print an arbitrary design would enable clothing stores to completely eliminate most of their factories, warehouses, delivery costs, standing inventory (much of which is thrown out or sold for a pittance), employees, and a significant percentage of the size of their stores. They will be able to react to fast-changing fashion trends instantly with exellent efficiency. They will be able to keep and reuse old designs more or less indefinitely. Sure, machines will be printing a lot of the same thing over and over again at any given time - but the thing they're printing over and over again will be what's popular and selling right there and right now, which is very difficult to predict months in advance and for every location. That, combined with the huge reduction in overhead, will allow the first mass-market retail store to figure out on-demand printing a huge advantage over its competitors. Not to mention that it will fit the customer as close to perfectly as measurement and design allow, so the product itself will probably be of significantly higher utility than what you can get in the average mall store today.
- serf 13y ago
  they aren't really equivalent. if I had a machine that would tailor me an outfit after a 3d scan or equivalent, i'd use it primarily. Instead, at the moment, I must employ a tailor.

by hibikir 13y ago

JetSpiegel 13y ago

Printing clothes on demand will never work. Those already exist today. You can have a tailor make you a suit, and it's a special thing only for you. Most people don't want that, they want to wear what their friends and idols wear, so it's not feasible to shift production to 3D printers, so that they print the same thing over and over again. Our current system requires no further investment.

easong 13y ago
Getting a tailor to custom-make your entire wardrobe is wayyy outside of the financial capabilities of almost everyone except the very very wealthy today. In the 40s one might as well have said that handheld calculators will never work - we can always have the women ("calculators") down the hall crunch the numbers for us! Having a machine that, given the correct fabric, can print an arbitrary design would enable clothing stores to completely eliminate most of their factories, warehouses, delivery costs, standing inventory (much of which is thrown out or sold for a pittance), employees, and a significant percentage of the size of their stores. They will be able to react to fast-changing fashion trends instantly with exellent efficiency. They will be able to keep and reuse old designs more or less indefinitely. Sure, machines will be printing a lot of the same thing over and over again at any given time - but the thing they're printing over and over again will be what's popular and selling right there and right now, which is very difficult to predict months in advance and for every location. That, combined with the huge reduction in overhead, will allow the first mass-market retail store to figure out on-demand printing a huge advantage over its competitors. Not to mention that it will fit the customer as close to perfectly as measurement and design allow, so the product itself will probably be of significantly higher utility than what you can get in the average mall store today.
serf 13y ago
they aren't really equivalent. if I had a machine that would tailor me an outfit after a 3d scan or equivalent, i'd use it primarily. Instead, at the moment, I must employ a tailor.