We're all familiar with printers but what about 3D printers? Professor Olaf Diegel of the Rapid Prototyping Laboratory discusses the latest development in manufacturing.
"3D printing or rapid prototyping allows us to make real products directly from 3D designs. Anything that can be imagined using 3D computer software can be manufactured in a matter of hours. Ten years ago 3D printing was only used for making prototype parts to test ideas. Today, the technologies have evolved to the point where 3D printers can be used to make production-ready parts out of plastics, and even metals like stainless steel, aluminium, and titanium.
In a few years, we will see the rapid emergence of home 3D printers capable of printing in multiple materials at the same time. So when you need a new toothbrush, instead of going to the supermarket to buy a new one you will simply recycle the material from the old one and print yourself out a new one with bristles customised to just the way you like and a handle that fits your hand perfectly. Mass-customisation is one of the new business models that will change the way we live, and within ten years we will probably have widespread access to customised products.
Already, 3D printing technologies are being used to create individual hearing aids and dentists are beginning to use these technologies to print bespoke gold crowns while you wait. 3D printing is already used in the field of regenerative medicine. It is possible to print a new bladder that the patient's body will not reject, because it is printed from their own stem cells. Technology is also being developed to produce heart valves for bypass operations. Within the next 20 years, we are likely to see new 3D printing technologies that will allow for the printing of much more complex organs, like kidneys, and maybe even hearts.
Much like the advent of the robot, which saw car companies around the world retraining workers into different roles, 3D printing will affect society and businesses in a similar way. As printers are developed that allow for the printing of a complete house, for example, traditional builders might need to be retrained in aspects of making, running or servicing the machines, or in the aspects of design needed to maximise the potential of the machines. A chunk of New Zealand's economic future rests in high-value niche manufacturing and the innovative use of design and technology. Conventional mass-manufacturing has, in large part, moved to countries like China and India where labour costs offer a substantial advantage. To compete, New Zealand companies need to develop both superior design abilities and competencies in efficiently and rapidly manufacturing well designed high-value niche products.
3D printing offers almost unlimited flexibility, gives the ability to almost instantly respond to customer demands, and drastically changes conventional business models. Researchers at AUT's Creative Industries Research Institute are working on several new 3D printing technologies including conductive 3D printing, and the bioprinting of diagnostic medical tools. Conductive 3D printing would allow us to print wiring, circuit boards, and electronic components as an integral part of the plastic shell of a product, meaning products could be of any shape imaginable. Diagnostic bioprinting will allow us to print sophisticated medical diagnostic tools using standard ink-jet printers. These will test for a number of diseases with the results of the test simply appearing, in writing, on the test strip."
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