Hi, let's talk a bit about 3D printing. As the Executive Director of the Illinois Maker Lab I give lots of presentations on the topic of 3D printing. I usually like to begin my presentations with this quote from Neil Gershenfeld. He is a professor at MIT, the co-founder of the Fab Lab, an expert on technology in general and the Maker Movement in particular. Here's what he said, "Twenty years from now we'll have Star Trek replicators that can make anything."
I think this quote nicely illustrates the revolutionary potential of 3D printing. Although Professor Gershenfeld's prediction is a bit hard to believe, he's not alone. Over the past three years, Jeffrey Bezos, Jeffrey Immelt, and Barack Obama have all identified 3D printing as a revolutionary new technology. In fact, according to several leading media sources, including, "Wired" magazine, "The Economist," and the "New York Times," "3D printing will lead us into a new industrial revolution and dramatically alter our economy."
Thus this new emerging digital tool has implications the way products are distributed and placed into the market. Let me give you a few examples.
3D printers are currently being used by many firms to make a wide variety of products. Thus you may already own or actually use these 3D products without knowing it. Here are a few examples of 3D printing applications. One domain is medical and dental. 3D printing is making rapid progress in the medical and dental fields. Today for example in the US most hearing aids and dental implants are 3D printed. 3D printing is also being used to create affordable prosthetics and a number of new start ups are actually exploring 3D printing as a way to "print" human skin and organs. Second industry that is utilizing 3D printing is the fashion and clothing industry. Recent development in new materials have made 3D printing of clothing a reality. So fashion designers are finding that 3D printing enables them to create designs that are not possible using traditional manufacturing techniques. So for example there are now 3D printed dresses, shoes, and even bikinis. In addition, large clothing manufacturers and retailers are also starting to realize the potential of 3D printing. For example, Nike is now 3D printing its football shoes.
3D industry is manufacturing, actually a collection of industries. For many years 3D printers have been used in the manufacturing industries to do prototyping. Now we find that many printers are moving from prototyping to actual printing of final finished products by a number of manufacturing firms. Let me give you a few examples. Boeing, the airline company, 3D prints a variety of parts for its airplanes including structural parts for the wings and also airvents for the inside of the plane. Another example is the firm Local Motors.They recently printed the world's first 3D printed car, or at least the body of the car. Now that we have some examples, let's provide a formal definition of what 3D printing is. This is quite simple, "it creates objects via process using a computer-driven device that reads a digital model." Actually a variety of different types of printing processes. And also a wide variety of materials that can be 3D printed, including plastics, metals, ceramics, and even chocolate.
In fact just about any hard material that can be softened, or any soft material that can be hardened, can be 3D printed.
Regardless of the specific processes or type of materials, all 3D printers start with the digital model. This is a digital model of an object that will be printed. Thus 3D printers are a good example of a new digital marketing tool. Now 3D printers are actually not new. They've been around for over 30 years. However, until recently these printers have been very large, about the size of a refrigerator, and very expensive-- about $100,000 or more. However, in the last five years both the size of the printers as well as their cost have dramatically shrunk. Today's 3D printers are the size of a microwave oven or even smaller and can cost as little as $1,000 or even less. Thus they can now sit on your desk top. As a result, this technology is rapidly spreading and becoming democratized and available to consumers.
Now that we've talked a bit about what 3D printing is, what's special about it. I'd like to give you a bit of a tour of our MakerLab and show you some of things that we make using our 3D printers. Well, we can make lots of things that are fun such as this Thor hammer , it's a replica that was used in the movie. We can also make things that are practical such as a whistle or John-version of a whistle. Now I'd like to share some academic insights about the topic of 3D printing. Because this is a relatively new technology, at least for consumers, we don't have much research on 3D printing, especially in terms of the business implications of 3D printing. However a few studies are starting to emerge. I'd like to share some findings from two of these studies, one of which I'm currently involved. The first study is a, said that was published quite recently, in 2013 in a journal called, "Metronics." In this research, Van Wittenbraut and his colleagues at Michigan Tech University conducted a very interesting experiment. In order to determine how much money could be save, consumer printed common household objects at home instead of buying them at a store.
So they downloaded 20 digital designs from thingiverse.com and printed them on a low-cost desk top 3D printer, very similar to the printers we have here in our lab. So for example, they printed a Iphone doc, a showerhead, and a papertowel holder. They then compared the cost of printing these products both in terms of material and energy, versus what it would cost them to buy these products in a store. What they found was quite remarkable. The printing cost in terms of both energy and materials was less than $20. In comparison it would have cost them at least $300 to buy them from a store. Thus, this study indicates that it's cheaper to make your own products than to buy them. The second study is a printer project I'm conducting here at the University of Illinois with Haewon Cho which is one of our doctoral students. In this study we're conducting a series of experiments many of which we're doing here in the Oh My MakerLab in which we compare making versus buying. So students come here to the lab and they make very common 3D printed objects. We compare them against another group in the classroom which they buy the same objects. Although the results are still quite preliminary, this is early research, our study is finding that there's a stark difference between these two conditions. So for example, students who print objects in our lab exhibit higher levels of loyalty, they feel closer connection with these objects, and are willing to pay almost 50% more for them. identify the specific mechanism by which this difference occurs but we believe it's mainly due to the fact that consumers print an object, they have a higher degree of both knowledge and involvement about the creation process. Now let's talk about some practical recommendations in terms of 3D printing. First of all, I recommend that you make the physical digital.
What's really special about 3D printing is that it blurs the dividing line between the physical and the digital. All 3D printed objects start with a digital model. And once an object is digital, it can be easily stored, transported, and modified, to meet specific customer demands. So the head start on this process by creating all new objects using digital modeling tools such as sketchup or salar works or by using a 3D scanner to turn the physical products into digital designs. These designs are especially helpful for replacement parts which can be costly to store and difficult to transport. For example, NASA is using 3D printers to replace parts that break on its spacecraft while in space.
Number 2, let your customers customize their designs. So once firms begin thinking about products as digital goods rather than physical ones, new possibilities emerge. This physical goods are difficult and expensive to customize. Anyone who has ordered a tailored suit or bought custom-made furniture knows this. However, when digital products are customized it's relatively cheap and easy. Indeed it's even possible to eliminate finished products altogether. Instead of having finished products just offer a basic template that let each customer design their product to his or her own specific needs. A great example of this is the thingiverse customizer which allows customers to easily design a variety of products by selecting a set of pre-determined menu options.
Thus customers are creating unique digital designs rather than off-the-shelf products. This digitization of physical goods makes it easier to satisfy a broader range of customer preferences.
Number 3 the middleman.
3D printers alter physical goods just like the internet altered digital goods, such as music, text, and video. If you're my age, you might remember how a physical music store was replaced by ITunes.
And much the same way, the 3D printer has the potential to disrupt the manner which physical goods are distributed. For example, shipping firms such as DHL and UPS are very concerned about this potential disruption. Products that are shipped digitally save both time and money and also give firms greater control over the distribution process. Thus cutting out the middleman is enticing prospect. A firm can do this in a variety of ways such as posting digital files of its products, or parts of its products on its website for direct downloading or it can post these files on a digital 3D printing retailer such as shapeways.com . Fourth and finally, dun is the engine of more. Let me explain. This is one of my favorite mottos. It comes from something called the "Cult of Done Manifesto." This is a document that was written by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark. It contains a set of ideas that talk about how to get things done. We have this manifesto displayed probably on the wall of our lab. My favorite idea in this manifesto is the last one. Done is the engine of more. This is a very simple but profound statement that emphasizes the importance of doing rather than planning. Traditionally business schools focus more on planning rather than doing. So this statement made me think differently about how to get things done.
It also captures one of the key benefits of 3D printing because desktop 3D printing is relatively cheap and easy, there is no need for extensive planning. If you have an idea, you can design it and make an initial prototype at your desktop. Once you have this physical prototype, you can get a better idea how well it works. You can then tweek the design, print a modified version. If this one isn't right you can do it again and again and again. Hence, done is the engine of more.
I think this quote nicely illustrates the revolutionary potential of 3D printing. Although Professor Gershenfeld's prediction is a bit hard to believe, he's not alone. Over the past three years, Jeffrey Bezos, Jeffrey Immelt, and Barack Obama have all identified 3D printing as a revolutionary new technology. In fact, according to several leading media sources, including, "Wired" magazine, "The Economist," and the "New York Times," "3D printing will lead us into a new industrial revolution and dramatically alter our economy."
Thus this new emerging digital tool has implications the way products are distributed and placed into the market. Let me give you a few examples.
3D printers are currently being used by many firms to make a wide variety of products. Thus you may already own or actually use these 3D products without knowing it. Here are a few examples of 3D printing applications. One domain is medical and dental. 3D printing is making rapid progress in the medical and dental fields. Today for example in the US most hearing aids and dental implants are 3D printed. 3D printing is also being used to create affordable prosthetics and a number of new start ups are actually exploring 3D printing as a way to "print" human skin and organs. Second industry that is utilizing 3D printing is the fashion and clothing industry. Recent development in new materials have made 3D printing of clothing a reality. So fashion designers are finding that 3D printing enables them to create designs that are not possible using traditional manufacturing techniques. So for example there are now 3D printed dresses, shoes, and even bikinis. In addition, large clothing manufacturers and retailers are also starting to realize the potential of 3D printing. For example, Nike is now 3D printing its football shoes.
3D industry is manufacturing, actually a collection of industries. For many years 3D printers have been used in the manufacturing industries to do prototyping. Now we find that many printers are moving from prototyping to actual printing of final finished products by a number of manufacturing firms. Let me give you a few examples. Boeing, the airline company, 3D prints a variety of parts for its airplanes including structural parts for the wings and also airvents for the inside of the plane. Another example is the firm Local Motors.They recently printed the world's first 3D printed car, or at least the body of the car. Now that we have some examples, let's provide a formal definition of what 3D printing is. This is quite simple, "it creates objects via process using a computer-driven device that reads a digital model." Actually a variety of different types of printing processes. And also a wide variety of materials that can be 3D printed, including plastics, metals, ceramics, and even chocolate.
In fact just about any hard material that can be softened, or any soft material that can be hardened, can be 3D printed.
Regardless of the specific processes or type of materials, all 3D printers start with the digital model. This is a digital model of an object that will be printed. Thus 3D printers are a good example of a new digital marketing tool. Now 3D printers are actually not new. They've been around for over 30 years. However, until recently these printers have been very large, about the size of a refrigerator, and very expensive-- about $100,000 or more. However, in the last five years both the size of the printers as well as their cost have dramatically shrunk. Today's 3D printers are the size of a microwave oven or even smaller and can cost as little as $1,000 or even less. Thus they can now sit on your desk top. As a result, this technology is rapidly spreading and becoming democratized and available to consumers.
Now that we've talked a bit about what 3D printing is, what's special about it. I'd like to give you a bit of a tour of our MakerLab and show you some of things that we make using our 3D printers. Well, we can make lots of things that are fun such as this Thor hammer , it's a replica that was used in the movie. We can also make things that are practical such as a whistle or John-version of a whistle. Now I'd like to share some academic insights about the topic of 3D printing. Because this is a relatively new technology, at least for consumers, we don't have much research on 3D printing, especially in terms of the business implications of 3D printing. However a few studies are starting to emerge. I'd like to share some findings from two of these studies, one of which I'm currently involved. The first study is a, said that was published quite recently, in 2013 in a journal called, "Metronics." In this research, Van Wittenbraut and his colleagues at Michigan Tech University conducted a very interesting experiment. In order to determine how much money could be save, consumer printed common household objects at home instead of buying them at a store.
So they downloaded 20 digital designs from thingiverse.com and printed them on a low-cost desk top 3D printer, very similar to the printers we have here in our lab. So for example, they printed a Iphone doc, a showerhead, and a papertowel holder. They then compared the cost of printing these products both in terms of material and energy, versus what it would cost them to buy these products in a store. What they found was quite remarkable. The printing cost in terms of both energy and materials was less than $20. In comparison it would have cost them at least $300 to buy them from a store. Thus, this study indicates that it's cheaper to make your own products than to buy them. The second study is a printer project I'm conducting here at the University of Illinois with Haewon Cho which is one of our doctoral students. In this study we're conducting a series of experiments many of which we're doing here in the Oh My MakerLab in which we compare making versus buying. So students come here to the lab and they make very common 3D printed objects. We compare them against another group in the classroom which they buy the same objects. Although the results are still quite preliminary, this is early research, our study is finding that there's a stark difference between these two conditions. So for example, students who print objects in our lab exhibit higher levels of loyalty, they feel closer connection with these objects, and are willing to pay almost 50% more for them. identify the specific mechanism by which this difference occurs but we believe it's mainly due to the fact that consumers print an object, they have a higher degree of both knowledge and involvement about the creation process. Now let's talk about some practical recommendations in terms of 3D printing. First of all, I recommend that you make the physical digital.
What's really special about 3D printing is that it blurs the dividing line between the physical and the digital. All 3D printed objects start with a digital model. And once an object is digital, it can be easily stored, transported, and modified, to meet specific customer demands. So the head start on this process by creating all new objects using digital modeling tools such as sketchup or salar works or by using a 3D scanner to turn the physical products into digital designs. These designs are especially helpful for replacement parts which can be costly to store and difficult to transport. For example, NASA is using 3D printers to replace parts that break on its spacecraft while in space.
Number 2, let your customers customize their designs. So once firms begin thinking about products as digital goods rather than physical ones, new possibilities emerge. This physical goods are difficult and expensive to customize. Anyone who has ordered a tailored suit or bought custom-made furniture knows this. However, when digital products are customized it's relatively cheap and easy. Indeed it's even possible to eliminate finished products altogether. Instead of having finished products just offer a basic template that let each customer design their product to his or her own specific needs. A great example of this is the thingiverse customizer which allows customers to easily design a variety of products by selecting a set of pre-determined menu options.
Thus customers are creating unique digital designs rather than off-the-shelf products. This digitization of physical goods makes it easier to satisfy a broader range of customer preferences.
Number 3 the middleman.
3D printers alter physical goods just like the internet altered digital goods, such as music, text, and video. If you're my age, you might remember how a physical music store was replaced by ITunes.
And much the same way, the 3D printer has the potential to disrupt the manner which physical goods are distributed. For example, shipping firms such as DHL and UPS are very concerned about this potential disruption. Products that are shipped digitally save both time and money and also give firms greater control over the distribution process. Thus cutting out the middleman is enticing prospect. A firm can do this in a variety of ways such as posting digital files of its products, or parts of its products on its website for direct downloading or it can post these files on a digital 3D printing retailer such as shapeways.com . Fourth and finally, dun is the engine of more. Let me explain. This is one of my favorite mottos. It comes from something called the "Cult of Done Manifesto." This is a document that was written by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark. It contains a set of ideas that talk about how to get things done. We have this manifesto displayed probably on the wall of our lab. My favorite idea in this manifesto is the last one. Done is the engine of more. This is a very simple but profound statement that emphasizes the importance of doing rather than planning. Traditionally business schools focus more on planning rather than doing. So this statement made me think differently about how to get things done.
It also captures one of the key benefits of 3D printing because desktop 3D printing is relatively cheap and easy, there is no need for extensive planning. If you have an idea, you can design it and make an initial prototype at your desktop. Once you have this physical prototype, you can get a better idea how well it works. You can then tweek the design, print a modified version. If this one isn't right you can do it again and again and again. Hence, done is the engine of more.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий