When people talk about the dynamics of the manufacturing sector, they usually focus on current megatrends:

• Globalisation, offshoring and free trade
• Smart design and new materials
• Smart processes.

These are all important, but essentially they are just more efficient/effective ways of doing the same thing. There’s a quiet technological reveolution about to burst on the scene; while still very primitive, expensive and limited in application and scale, it has the potential to cause far greater change to the nature of manufacturing (and economies) than anything since the industrial revolution.

What am I talking about? A technology known as 3-dimensional printing. Think of your computer printer. Using either bubblejet or laser technology, it prints any image you want, at very low cost, and the printers themselves are cheap. 3D printers do the same thing, using droplets of materials, but overprint the previous image many times until a 3-dimensional shape is built.

New materials are a key compenent of this technology. Here are just a few examples that are already in development:

• plastics and ceramics capable of conducting electricity, for motors and circuits;
• non-stick plastics and ceramics which when printed do not adhere to the existing materials, acting as bearings;
• printable metals
• superstrong plastics and ceramics for moving parts.

It is not science fiction when I suggest that many household objects could be be produced by downloading a standard design, adding your own customisations, and printing it out on your home 3D-printer, while larger objects, perhaps requiring more complex materials annd processes, could be produced at local 3D print shops. Imagine the transport and packaging savings alone.

All a bit too far-fetched? Well, the technology exists, albeit very limited in its present form. Commercial 3D printers are available now, mainly for design and prototyping, due to current limitations on printable objects. There’s even an open-source model that, once built, can replicate itself. Relevant developments in materials, plastic printing, and down-loadable designs are already well underway. You can even buld a 3D chocolate printer using Lego!

The science fiction idea of a universal fabricating machine isn’t that far way. Who’s going to dominate that technology? No idea, but printer & consumable businesses already exist (e.g. HP), so they’d be contenders if they address themselves to the opportunity. Mind you, what the world economy will be like after this technology takes off is anybody’s guess.