3D printing technology is helping to transform business in many different ways today in the market; revolutionizing a variety of industries.

Over the years this technology has come a long way, to the point where now you can find thousands of different items being printed in various places: hospitals, schools, private homes, etc. One 3D printing endeavor sought to print an entire home in just 24 hours.

You've got students printing their own braces, cars and houses being printed, medical teams printing human skin and other body parts; the versatility of this technology is quite impressive.

We've seen 3D printers make their way into dozens of different industries already. You can now find 3D printing technology being used all the way from fashion to medical, manufacturing, and more. And we can expect that in the future, for many, that this technology will become even more prevalent than it is today. Manufacturing is a multi-trillion dollar industry.

3D printers are helping to accelerate development of products, provide more customization options for products, and have shown to increase production flexibility; among other benefits.

According to the 3rd annual State of 3D Printing survey from digital manufacturing leader Sculpteo, where this technology is mostly being used today is for product development, because it helps to reduce the time that it takes for products to get to market.

Roughly 90 percent of companies that are currently using 3D printers consider it a competitive advantage to their business strategy.

The 3D printing market was one said to be valued around $6 billion in 2016 and industry experts suspect that it still has a lot of room for growth yet.

3D printing is changing the way that many of us today go about making and designing things that we need in our lives. Whether that's a student at college, a mechanic in his shop, a sailor at sea, or a firefighter at the hall, these printers are helping by fueling creativity, innovation, and helping people in a myriad of ways.

You've even got fire departments in the US now using 3D printers to create a variety of different products to help them to improve their performance. One firefighter in California, Captain Andy Stotts, has used the printer to make dozens of different items to help him and his team get the job done.

He's created things like helmet brackets for head lamps, custom labels for gear and equipment, cup holders for fire trucks, flexible wedding rings because traditional metal rings tend to get caught and can cause injury for them on the job, a volume control knob for a fire engine head set, a radio belt holder, and more.

One of the most helpful items that he's been able to create is what's referred to as the No-Lock (see image above), it's a mechanism that can easily be wrapped around door locks and it helps to prevent the lock from being accidentally pushed down by equipment or gear etc.

And in their line of work every second makes a tremendous amount of difference, they need every bit of help that they can get.

After the value of this mechanism was soon realized, Stotts was allegedly asked to outfit every one of the departments fire trucks with the No-Lock.

There aren't only fire fighters in California who are looking to use 3D printers to help either, in Texas they've also been using 3D printers, and there are other fire fighters around the world as well who are also looking to become familiarized with this technology.

Whether it's being used to print shoes, houses, braces, cars, arms, spoons, clothes, pizza, or some other product, it's clear that it will have a notable disruptive effect on supply chains and will fuel the transformation of many market spaces.

Pics:
getty images via vocativ.com/384132/massive-fire-rages-at-nyu-hospital-in-manhattan/index.html
via gineersnow.com
via videoblocks
via giphy
Pixabay
via matterhackers.com
Robo via 3dprint.com

Sources:
http://www.vocativ.com/video/world/global/3d-printed-house24-hours-apis-cor/index.html
http://mashable.com/2017/08/23/robotic-arm-3d-print-microsoft-prosthetic/#akO38zoQzgqT
https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2017/05/23/the-state-of-3d-printing-2017/#4705887b57eb
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2017/09/14/3d-printing-moves-align-technology-toward-1-3-billion-in-sales/#6dd520c75378
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2017/11/08/3d-printer-farms-and-robotics-start-pointing-to-future-of-manufacturing/#2f310117a429
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikescott/2017/01/25/3d-printing-will-change-the-way-we-make-things-in-2017/#6fc585db310e
https://3dprint.com/192790/magnolia-fire-department/
https://3dprint.com/196828/oceanside-fire-department-3dp/
https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/15-surprising-ways-firemen-can-use-3d-printing
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/13/hp-inc-ceo-we-got-into-3-d-printing-to-get-ahead-of-manufacturing.html

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