The Economist on 3D Printing, Again

By on May 4th, 2012 in coverage, Ideas

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Once again the venerable The Economist has published a series of articles on the topic of 3D printing and digital manufacturing. This publication has gone quite far to promote the technology, more than others. 
 
We’ll bring three of their articles to your attention. First, they explain the fundamentals of 3D printing, which is still necessary as most readers still have no idea what 3D printing is all about. In fact, we still get a tickle from watching the expression on the faces of people shown a live 3D printer. 
 
The Economist then digs deeper and explains the key benefit of 3D printing over traditional mass manufacturing: the ability to customize unique products and do it rapidly. 
 
Finally a third article describes their vision of the future, in the form of a “Third Industrial Revolution”, where digital manufacturing and design will strongly influence the manner of manufacturing in the 21st century to change it far beyond today’s methods. 
 
Via The Economist, The Economist and … The Economist (Hat tip to James)

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!

2 comments

  1. I am an Architect and I first saw 3d printing about 10 years ago while I was a student. It was expensive and elite and I had forgotten about it until last year, when the economist first wrote about it. Since then I have followed developments closely and I am about to purchase a 3D printer for my own business.

    I believe 3D printing will have a huge impact on design and manufacturing, I've even been inspired to write and publish an ebook on the subject. This could be a pivitol moment in how we relate to the design of physical objects.

  2. I am an Architect and I first saw 3d printing about 10 years ago while I was a student. It was expensive and elite and I had forgotten about it until last year, when the economist first wrote about it. Since then I have followed developments closely and I am about to purchase a 3D printer for my own business.

    I believe 3D printing will have a huge impact on design and manufacturing, I've even been inspired to write and publish an ebook on the subject. This could be a pivitol moment in how we relate to the design of physical objects.

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