Is Additive Manufacturing Another Gold Rush?

Sometimes the frenzy around 3D printing reminds me of  the Gold Rush... Additive manufacturing (AM) has a lot of value in and of itself, but, like the Gold rush, it is also having a transformative impact on its environment.  

Consider these similarities:

Challenges over land claims surfaced during the Gold Rush which prompted the establishment of property rights.  Many would argue that similar problems will arise from 3D printing's impact on intellectual property and patents.

Once the gold that was easiest to retrieve was gone, The Gold Rush encouraged technological innovation that enabled miners to extract more of the precious metal from the riverbeds and ground.  Almost daily, we read about advancements in AM - both in material applications and printing processes which in some cases are creating precious metals.

As the Gold Rush continued, only larger organized enterprises remained profitable.  While we are not there yet, we've seen a fair number of mergers and acquisitions for a relatively young industry.

Secondary industries fared well, if not better, than the miners themselves.  Merchants, shippers, lodgers and entertainers thrived when most miners failed to make money.  Today, an increasing number of 3D printing supplies, trade shows, conferences, publications, certifications, and courses are being offered.

San Francisco and California grew significantly from the influx of 49ers  The establishment of AM Centers of Excellence in Youngstown and Detroit may well reverse the population loss of the Rust Belt region. 

The Gold Rush spurred an economic boom.  Many industry experts and government officials believe AM will boost the U.S. economy by bringing back manufacturing. 

Let's just hope that we don't see some of the problems (environmental damage, human rights issues) the Gold Rush created.

Save Thousands and Make a Splash at Tradeshows!

Monitor produced for close to half the cost of and in far less time than traditional manufacturing

Exhibiting at tradeshows, while rewarding, can be very expensive and stressful:  transporting and staging large equipment can consume a large portion of a company’s marketing budget.  But it doesn’t have to.  Using 3D printing techniques, firms can get to-scale, full-color prototypes and models of their equipment that can easily be carried and displayed on site. 

The Client:

FlatHED, Inc. is an industrial design company which specializes in designing appealing and sleek consumer goods that are also cost effective to manufacture.

The Need: 

Not all cost-effective designs for manufacture are cost-effective in small quantities for tests and tradeshows.  FlatHED designed an all-in-one computer that would house electronics that their customer wanted to show off at a trade show.  To CNC machine the design out of aluminum would have cost over $10,000 for just one unit and then they  would have been left with an unfinished, heavy part covered in tool marks.  They needed two working devices and had only $8,000 to budget for both, so they turned to RapidMade™.  

 The Solution: 

Working with FlatHED to modify the design for a special mix of manufacturing methods, RapidMade™ was able to create a finished product out of ABS plastic, ceramic, and sheet metal.  The final part was indistinguishable from the metal design and finished with high quality automotive gloss and matte finish paint, contained all the electronic components, held the weight of a heavy computer monitor, and (most importantly) cost slightly over half the original $8,000 budget. 

To-scale, full-color model shows internal components of large equipment

The Client:

Cornell Pump Company produces some of the best pumps in the business and attends over a dozen trade shows every year for food processing, mining, agriculture, and other industries that require pumping. 

The Need:

Cornell has had great success shipping and displaying their actual pumps for view at these shows, but they wanted a way to show potential customers the inner mechanics of the pumps in an attention-getting way.

 The Solution:

Cornell asked RapidMade™ to produce tabletop models of their large pumps with color coding and cutaways.  Customers can see the inner components and compare the colors with a labeled legend near the pump.  Having a tool that helps to explain the mechanics of the pumps is a valuable sales tool; it helps customers connect the dots for application.  Seeing the 3D printed colored replica also draws the attention of browsing show attendees.  On top of all of that, the ceramic model can be easily carried under the arm of a tradeshow representative, eliminating the need for expensive shipping.