3D printing

Out of the box

Aug 6th 2013

THE emergence of three-dimensional (3D) printing will have a revolutionary

effect on manufacturing, but it may be equally disruptive for firms that make
much of their living warehousing and delivering spare parts for companies.
Now, one of the biggest delivery firms, UPS, is going to test 3D printing in its
stores.

Stratasys, a Minneapolis company which is one of the leading makers of 3D

printers, will provide its uPrint SE desktop machines to six UPS Stores in
America for a trial programme. These machines will allow customers to bring
their designs to the store and have them printed out as objects—in much the same way as people take two-
dimensional digital documents to the store and have them printed on paper. The uPrint machines can produce
items in plastic in a range of colours and make bigger objects in finer detail than consumer-level 3D printers.

UPS expects designers, entrepreneurs, start-ups and architects seeking models to be among its customers for 3D
printing services. Some people might also be seeking spare parts: it is often small plastic items that break in
products, but they can be difficult and expensive to find. Some industrial 3D printers can print metal components
too.

“3D printing has the potential to turn manufacturing supply chains on their head,” reckons Anthony Vicari of Lux
Research in a report assessing the future of the 3D-printing industry. Despite plenty of hype, 3D printing is not
about to replace mass manufacturing, but will enhance it with the ability to make one-offs and small batches of
items relatively cheaply.

Instead of holding a central stock of spare parts and distributing them with overnight delivery firms, like UPS, it
becomes possible for companies to store digital designs on a server and have the files downloaded and printed
out locally whenever new parts are needed. This could be done by a carmaker’s dealers, for instance. Repairmen
fixing domestic appliances might print simple components in the back of their vans.

Even if there is no access to the original design file, it is possible to use 3D scanners to reverse-engineer items and
then print them out. This could open up a can of worms in patent and design infringements, and it remains to be
seen how UPS will deal with such copying. Classic-car restorers already reverse-engineer and 3D-print components
to fix vehicles for which parts are no longer obtainable.

The UPS trial is only an experiment to see what the real level of interest in 3D printing will be. Nevertheless, it
could evolve into a whole new type of business for the delivery company.