A Clear Vision How 3D Printers Will Change All Our Lives
Editor comment: I like the way this guy puts it even if the video is a few months old. He is an evangelist with a clear vision of how 3D printing is going to change the world. Albeit, it already has changed so much in how products are designed, developed and brought to market.
He gets right to the point of how additive manufacturing is affecting consumer markets already and yet people hardly realise it. His examples are poignant because most of us don’t realize how much around us was prototyped on a 3D printer before it went into mass production.
The big change and perhaps the most interesting will be when manufacturers start allowing serious customisation of their products via 3D modelling software that ordinary folk can use. Software which provides real choice in shape, colour and material. The item can then be made locally by a 3D printing factory if it is complex or perhaps on a home printer if it is straightforward enough to do so.
It is the big vision and a welcome one for many. However, a huge question remains about ‘the elephant in the room’; how will big brands protect their items from being copied ad infinitum or even just being passed around?
Famous brands may find out that they will also start losing out to niche players whom have great designs – the extra profits currently achieved from promoting brand equity that large corporations use to convince consumers to buy their products could take a hit.