Your Wish is My Print Command — The 3D Printing Genie Impact!
Manufacturing on Demand! #NB3Diaries #1
What does a consumer product’s conventional supply chain include?
Today’s consumer product supply chain usually looks like this -
- Product is designed at the company HQ
- “Expensive” prototype is manufactured locally or ordered from a chinese manufacturer
- Product is mass manufactured in China
- Product is shipped back to company HQ
- Product is sent across to local distributors and retailers
- Product ‘maybe’ sold to customer in store. Remaining inventory at the end of the season / product sale time frame make it to the landfill.
How is 3D printing going to help disrupt this century old process ?
Let’s say the customer is interested in a product, say a mobile phone case. Digital encrypted file is sent to a retailer close to the customer and product is printed locally.
- Customer shops for the product online and customizes design to his liking
- Digital encrypted file is sent by the business to a partner retailer close to the customer’s location
- The product is printed locally at the retailers outlet
- Customer picks it up from store or local delivery is arranged
In today’s cut throat pricing market where the customer is shopping for the cheapest option available for a given product, this might help the business adapting to the use of 3D Printers cut costs on most of its products (manufacturing locally ensures no import duties, no freight charges, warehousing charges etc.levied on the MRP of the product).
Manufacturing on Demand could be the answer to small businesses winning back customers from deep pocketed competitors in the industry!
P.S. Yes, a product might not be ready for sale straight out of a 3D Printer but a major part of the product can be ready once out of the printer considering the material advances we have and will continue to see in the 3D Printing field.
How are big retailers preparing for this change?
Amazon’s ‘3D Printed products on demand’ idea for the future; where they would have a truck with 3D Printers driving around and printing your product as the truck traveled to your house for delivery, is an example to show how important on demand manufacturing can be to retailers even as big as Amazon!
Amazon might already have considerable customer purchase data to predict future buying trends in various regions worldwide. This gives them the early mover advantage to stock up products in certain warehouses close to where they foresee huge upcoming demand for a product. 3D Printing is poised to help retailers like Amazon take a step ahead in their effort to get the product to the customer as soon as possible, while ensuring negligible warehousing costs.
Rising Transportation charges, high import duties on goods manufactured abroad, necessity to be closer to the customer to cut short delivery times — All showcase the need for 3D Printing to be an integral part of the existing supply chain.
Increased number of materials that can be now 3D Printed, dropping costs of these machines and increasing accuracy of the industrial scale machines are driving 3D Printers closer to you, the customer.
Follow us to stay updated with more stories on how additive manufacturing is going to sooner than later bring about disruption in the manufacturing sector; and how you can prepare your business for this change in the near future.
