| | July 20188CIOReviewI've been writing a lot about Smart, Connected Products ­ aka the Internet of Things (IoT) ­ but there is another transformative technology change that has my attention. Additive Manufacturing ­ aka 3D Printing (3DP) ­ promises to be almost as disruptive as IoT, but in different ways. More to come in the weeks ahead ­ but I wanted to get this story out.I recently was at a 3DP tech event and got into a fascinating conversation with someone about the state of the art in Additive Manufacturing. This person (we'll call them Pat) has been in industry and academia for many years, and is exposed to a lot of cutting edge stuff ­ we'll leave them anonymous for now. One of the first things I got from the conversation was an understanding of the term "additive manufacturing" ­ because Pat used the term "subtractive manufacturing" to refer to well-established methods where a chunk of raw material is routed and shaped, removing material until you get to the final shape. Ah, now I understand!Pat felt that most of the 3D printing hype out in the market right now is just that ­ hype. To really have an impact, you need a confluence of factors:· Complex shapes ­ very expensive and difficult to do with traditional manufacturing methods· "Acceptable" materials ­ that will fit the application but can be manipulated by these printers· Short runs and high customization ­ because for simpler parts with high volumes, it will still be cheaper to produce tooling, and punch / mold / press them out en massePat also quoted some figures that suggest 3D printing for production parts is still very far away ­ depending on the material. For example ­ apparently Powdered Titanium (for use in a 3D printer) is around 100x more expense than good By James MacLennan, SVP & Chief Information Officer, IDEX Corporation3D PRINTING REQUIRES WILDLY DIFFERENT THINKING
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