Chuangchuang Luan
Dr Vincent Capone
Writing for graduate school
September 24, 2014

3D Printing

Recently, the word “3-D print” continues to heat up, continues to flock to the major IT portals. Many economists hold positive views about the future of 3-D printing. The lectures “3-D Printing Will Change the World”, “3-D printing: The new industrial revolution” and “3D printing The printed world” all talk about the profound implications that the 3-D printing will have on Global's economic future. The choosing articles explain the same topic in different ways, one just by introducing briefly and one by comparing, while another by the Specific examples. Connecting them together can show a comprehensive and deep viewpoint about the 3-D printing. In the lecture of “3-D Printing Will Change the World”, Professor Richard A. D'Aveni mainly focuses on the most important implications that the 3-D printing will have. First, he presents that many plants will be produced locally, smaller scale production and some even household-level. The example given to support this theory is that car may be made in every metropolitan area. In addition, you can have more choice during purchase and the products will match more personal preferences that are even not standard. The professor believes that this creativity will come to the fore. The lecture predicts the deepest implication will be that “ businesses all along the supply, manufacturing, and retailing chains to rethink their strategies and operations.” In the past two decades, China gathered wealth and job opportunities by mass-manufacturing for all the world. But in the future, with the expansion of 3D printing. China will loss the superiority of cheaper manufacturing. However, there are not absolute winner in this change, including the United States and other Western countries.

In its conclusion, “3-D Printing Will Change the World” states that the world will be changing both in wealth and jobs, and that this technology will have a deep effect on the mode of production. While the former lecture focused on brief presentation of the three implications of the 3-D printing, the “3-D printing: The new industrial revolution” gives more details. It shows the advantages in another way by comparing with the main manufacturing processes. The lecture gives more details about what is 3-D printing, some main factors of the definition, the application and the future. The writer lists similarities and differences between 3-D printing and other manufacturing processes. It also talks about “The evolution of 3-D printing, 3-D applications, The future of 3-D printing”.
The first part give out the advantage by comparing and lists, you can understand 3-d printing by many aspects. When compared with different connected technology, the tables1 shows the differences from four aspects: Manufacturing Technology, Supply Chain&Integration Requirements, Economic Benefits, Range of Products. 3-D printing like mass customization, enables firms to economically build custom products in small quantities. While both processes can profitably make limited-quantity lot sizes and share other benefits, they are very different in terms of their manufacturing technology and logistics requirements. The second part shows that 3-D printing has undergone a three-phase evolution process. In phase one, architects, artists, and product designers used 3-D printing technology to make prototypes or mock-ups of new designs. In the third part , you can find out that 3-D printing is most widely used in applications with low production volumes, small part sizes, and having complex designs. At last, the writer take the readers to see the future of 3-D printing. The“3-D Printing Will Change the World” and “3-D printing: The new industrial revolution” both want to show their own opinion, the “3D printing-The printed world” is different. Its ideas combine that of different scientists and businessmen. It