In many industries, we are seeing technology shifts that are transforming the industry. In the taxi cab industry, it’s UBER. In the real estate industry, it’s Zillow. The question is, “What will be the technology that transforms manufacturing, and potentially heat treating?
3D printing could be that technology. MTI’s leadership has begun to assimilate a 3D Printing Task Force to research and communicate developments, best practices, and the impact of 3D printing on the heat treat industry.
If you are not aware of 3D printing and what it is, click on the video to see the basics. The following is an article written by Cliff Waldman from MAPI after he sat on a panel for 3D printing technologies. The key is not to fall asleep at the wheel on 3D printing. It will be a game changer in the heat treating industry. Stay informed, prepare for change, and adapt to the market.
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Article by Cliff Waldman
Washington weather may be featuring below-freezing temperatures and the first significant snowfall of the season, but for an interesting hour on a brutal February 17th, I was focused on the warmth and even the heat of Silicon Valley.
The 3D phenomenon is capturing news headlines by the week as it stimulates the imaginations of industrialists, educators, and public policymakers. Everybody seems to have their favorite story—a printer that produced a car, one that printed a small house in China, and one in England that managed to clone itself.
I was fortunate to appear with two distinguished experts who have in-depth knowledge of key areas that will matter as the implementation of this new technology progresses. Brian David Johnson has been described by Forbes as Intel’s resident guide to the future. Brian Gaff, a patent attorney, is a partner with McDermott Will and Emery.
Collectively, we were able to engage in a discussion about where this unique and still somewhat enigmatic new tool is going, how it will impact manufacturing and the broader economy, and the scope of legal and regulatory challenges that might arise from its wide distribution and use.
But even with our collective expertise, we had to admit that, at the moment, there are more questions than answers. Right now, 3D printing is where the internet was in the mid-1990s. We know that the economic implications can be profound. For some industries it will clearly be disruptive in that it can, among other things, shorten supply chains and increase the pace of and possibilities for product innovation. But markets are just beginning to align themselves to this and other new process technologies and it thus remains a guess as to the impact of 3D on such critical variables as employment, suppliers, and outsourcing. We know that 3D technology could possibly incentivize entrepreneurship but that partially depends on when printers will become affordable and when the public will have enough understanding to actively use them for business startup purposes.