This is a guest post in 3Dprintingindustry’s series looking at the future of 3D Printing. To celebrate 5 years of reporting on the 3D printing industry, they invited industry leaders and 3D printing experts to give their perspective and predictions for the next 5 years and insight into trends in additive manufacturing.
Rush LaSelle is the Director of Digital Manufacturing at Jabil. Founded in 1966, Jabil are a global manufacturing services company operating in over 20 countries and with more than 175,000 employees.
Additive manufacturing will transform industries over the next decade in a magnitude comparable to that of the Industrial Revolution. In the very way the previous revolution ushered in manufacturing processes and technology that made products (such as the automobile) affordable for the masses, additive manufacturing will make tailored products available to a larger percentage of consumers. As products become regionalized on the road to fully personalized, they will be produced in smaller lots, which will reduce dependencies on large-scale industrial operations. The benefit: Products then can be designed and delivered locally, which will drive greater intimacy between buyers and sellers.