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(Article changed on November 29, 2012 at 11:51)
According to several well-known periodicals within the mainstream media, many experts now believe a revolutionary new jaw-dropping 3D printer technology could trigger the rebirth of U.S. manufacturing and put an end to the "Made in China" era. There are three cutting-edge American companies at the forefront of this revolutionary technology. The New York Times says, "3D Printing is Spurring a Manufacturing Revolution."
"Printed"
cars will, in a sense, soon be rolling off the printers. Yes, I said
"printers." Using a new kind of
printer, a little-known Minnesota company has in fact "printed" an
entire car. Not all at once of course,
but piece by piece. The car gets 200
MPG, goes 70 mph, and is built to last for 30 years. All the exterior components of the car --
including the windows -- were created using a new kind of 3D printer.
This is one
of those rare transformational technologies -- like the Internet or the printing
press -- that quite probably will change the way we live, work, and play.
According to
The Market Oracle, this is the 21st century's "laser printer" -- with
the power to forever alter industries in the same manner that desktop
publishing changed the print industry during the 1980s. The list of possible uses for this
transformational breakthrough is already long -- and growing. Business
Insider calls it "The next
trillion-dollar industry."
In The Economist
there was recently a story about a Ph.D. student at MIT named Peter Schmitt,
who 3D-printed all the parts of a grandfather clock, which he then assembled to
make a perfectly working copy of the original.
According to Popular Mechanics,
Jay Leno uses a 3D printer to make custom hard-to-find parts, from scratch, for
his collection of classic cars. The New York Times reports that a California
startup is building houses with its 3D printer. According to the Times, the company's "printer,' which fits
on a tractor trailer, uses patterns delivered by computer, then squirts out repeated
layers of special concrete, to gradually form entire walls that form the outer
shell of the house, right up to where the roof will be added.
Even more
remarkable, a small biotech company is exploring the possibility of using 3D
printing to create entire human organs. The printing device would lay down layers of
living cells that could be molded into a bladder, kidney, or heart.
New research
by The Boston Consulting Group found that "Mass
production within the US could be far cheaper than producing and shipping
products from overseas. 3D printing will
bring about the
emergence of a new "Made in America" era by revitalizing America's faltering
manufacturing industry, thereby sending Chinese workers packing, as American
companies set up their own "portable factories.'"
But this
groundbreaking manufacturing technology isn't just limited to big corporations
or university research departments with deep pockets. In fact, the little-known Minnesota company
that "printed" the car mentioned earlier has recently released a home
version of the 3D printer for under $1,300.
This machine allows every one of us to be a designer, inventor, factory
owner -- and maybe even millionaire -- inspiring grand visions of a future where
everyone prints out their own children's toys, replacement car parts, household
objects, or musical instruments. And as
prices continue to drop, the 3D printer could soon be as common as a
screwdriver in Henry Homeowner's garage...
The Economist says, "Three-dimensional
printing may have as profound an impact on the world as the coming of the
factory did. Just as nobody could have
predicted the impact of the stem engine in 1750, or the printing press in 1450,
or the transistor in 1950, . . it is impossible to fully foresee the long-term
impact of 3D printing. But the
technology is coming, and it is likely to disrupt every field it touches."
Wired Magazine agrees: "This new printing technology could trigger "the
next industrial revolution.'"
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This article consists of edited excerpts from a report emailed to subscribers by Nick Hodge, managing director of Energy&Capital.
