3-D printing famously endured a “hype cycle” circa 2012-2015, when popular media took note of the technology and ran with it. Common headlines of the time dubbed 3-D printing a technology right out of Star Trek while many consumer publications and tradeshows (including mainstay CES) cried out for placement of a 3-D printer in every home. This straight-out-of-sci-fi solution would let kids make their own Christmas presents! Rockstars became brand ambassadors. 3-D printing was The Next Big Thing.
Until it wasn’t.
The crash followed and it hit hard, with the resulting whiplash changing the headlines: suddenly 3-D printing wasn’t a savior, it was “dead.” Kids didn’t know how to design their own toys to make, parents had problems calibrating print beds and cleaning material jams and the consumer craze fizzled. With many a token Yoda head landing in trash cans, 3-D printing was laid to (popular) rest.
According to Wohlers Associates, the global 3D printing market is expected to reach $21 billion by 2020 — quadrupling its size in just four years. While 3D printing, also referred to as additive manufacturing, comes with many benefits, such as freedom of design, easy prototyping, customization and streamlined logistics, it also poses many challenges.