1
3D Printing and Its Pace
To Replace the Standard Manufacturing Process
Deshaun A. Allen
Potomac High School
Advanced Placement English / Language : 3B
Ms. Lorilee Sidamon
May 10, 2022
2
3D Printing and the Manufacturing Process
Think about the shoes you put on before you go to work or school, the computer you use
to carry out your daily task, heck, everything without a pulse that you interact with on the daily.
These are all products of the manufacturing process, a broad term that refers to the “processing
of raw materials or parts into finished goods” (W.Kenton.2021.). You can think of it as the
transformation of something useless, into something useful. There are many, many types of
manufacturing processes including, casting, molding, forming, machining, joining, etc. There are
so many types that it would easily be confusing to the average person and quite time-consuming
going through many different processes to reach the desired outcome. 3D printing, on the other
hand, involves the additive process to build up a three-dimensional object. The additive process
involves “creating an object by building it one layer at a time” (R. Linke.2017.) or layer by layer
until it’s complete. The manufacturing process is so detailed and intricate, while sure it results in
amazing quality products ready for use, however, getting there is overly complicated when it
does not need to be. “The solution?”, 3D printing, with the use of 3D printing, parts can be made
relatively quickly with little manual labor involved, massively skipping time spent on other, less
efficient, and more time-consuming processes. Of course, the concept of 3D printing and many
smaller questions must be addressed before the final question of “how will 3D printing replace
the traditional manufacturing process” can be answered. Small questions like, “what is a 3D
printer?”, “How are printers normally used?”, “what truly is the manufacturing process” and
more.
Defining a “3D Printer”
What a 3D printer Is
3
Like how normal printers turn digital files into ink on paper, a 3D printer turns digital
files into real-life objects. The digital file in this case isn’t a pdf or text document, it’s more like a
blueprint for an
object that
extrudes in three
dimensions.
When a file is
uploaded to a
printer is when
it truly comes to
life. In the
image to the
left, we have a
3D printer, the
looks of these printers vary drastically but they all serve the same function. The “Bed” is where
the object that's being created rests to keep it in place while the “Extruder” is where the material
(that creates the object) comes out of. The “Steppers”, short for stepper motors, are what move
the bed in relative position to the extruder so that material can be deposited in different areas on
the x, y, and z-axis. The “spool” is where the material is held, it goes through the little tube that
then runs into the extruder to be extruded out. In this situation, the material must be heated to
about 220F so that it’s a liquid when it comes out of the extruder and quickly cooled to resolidify
when it is placed on the bed. Once again, however, not all printers are the same and in certain
scenarios, the process may be simpler for creating objects with a printer.
4
How 3D printers Differ From Normal Printers
Normal printers as we all know print onto paper, you may even refer to the paper as the
build area. The “extruder” for a normal printer would be the printhead from where the ink comes
out, the printhead moves on the x and y-axis to create the desired image or text desired. The key
difference however is the extra dimension that 3D printers have that makes a world of difference.
3D printers having the extra “z” axis allows for the printer to move vertically as well as
horizontally in contrast to normal printers. This extra axis allows for the use of more materials
and more freedom with which one may create a wide variety of items. Another difference is the
complexity of both machines. You’d think one extra axis wouldn't cause much more difficulty in
operation but it makes being precise all the more important, if a normal printer messes up only a
portion of the paper will be ruined meanwhile with a 3D printer, one small error will lead to the
failure of the entire operation
Examples of 3D printers In Use
Nine years ago in 2013, a small company came up with the task of creating an entire
home via the use of a 3D printer. In the suburbs of Moscow, a 400 sq ft house was constructed in
less than 24 hours. Another similar example to this was the two-story house constructed in
Beijing in a measly 45 days. Think about the tons of material that would normally need to be
manually placed by hand or heavy, expensive machinery done purely with the aid of a 3D printer
and in a faster time. Manufacturing isn't always about the construction though, think about the
sweeter things in life, literally. 3D printing is also used in food production today. For example,
frosting a cake, “pushing frosting through a tip to create designs [on a cake] - [is] very similar to
the 3D printing application process” (B. Marr. 2021). Think back to when I mentioned how
5
some material used by 3D printing is melted and cooled down to create structures, that's exactly
what's used in chocolate production via printers. It all starts with a “digital design” which then
leads to the printer printing layer by layer of chocolate until the design is complete. Think about
how much tension this relieves from people manually doing this process, or more expensive
machinery that is used to do this process.
How 3D Printers are Normally Used
How 3D Printers Are Used by Consumers
3D printers are sold worldwide, usually as a “hobbyist” machine and they're not a niche
one. The 2020 market for the 3D printing industry is reported to be worth a total of %15.4 billion
dollars overall. 3D printers are typically used to create any item the user wants to create, whether
that be a phone case or a cup to drink from. The key difference between consumer use and
business use, however, is the material and quality of items made by the printer. . Typically,
plastic is the material used as it is easy to manage for printing and can still create reliable and
complex parts. While the quality of plastic can range drastically with some being stronger than
others, they are still prone to damage, melting, and deforming under stress which is the main
drawback of consumer printers. This is the main reason why these printers are more “hobbyist”
machines. They allow users with zero experience to create any object they think of without
having to manually create it themselves. A nice toy or bracelet can be made but it won't compare
to products made from the typical process in which they are usually made which is why they’ll
stay under the category of a “hobbyist machine” for now.
The Business Side of things
It seems as though the business side versus the consumer side of 3D printing are on
completely different scales. 3D printing is also referred to as rapid prototyping in the business
6
world. Similar to consumer printers, plastic is used to quickly create a full-scale model to test.
For example, case companies create 1:1 replicas of upcoming phones using 3D printers to create
a well-fitting case for them. In the business world of printing, prototyping isn't the only thing 3D
printers are used for. Real, functional objects are created too but with a twist, metal is often used
instead of plastic resulting in a much stronger, much sturdier end-product. It’s a more
complicated process, but basically, metal powder is distributed layer by layer with a
high-powered, high-heat laser binding them together. The resulting product is a full metal
construction either ready for business use or consumer use. These metal printers cost tens of
thousands of dollars though, and for a smaller business, this isn't very practical leading us back
around once more to consumer printers. Rapid prototyping isn't the only thing consumer printers
are good for in a business, they can also be used to make molds. These molds allow the business
to create an object once with a printer and be able to replicate the same object as many times as
they want without the use of a printer and in a different, sturdier material as well. Metal can also
be used in these molds too resulting in a slower, but similar result as metal printers.
Experimental Use of Printers
Car production is no easy task, with thousands of pounds of metal and moving parts, it’s
safe to say that the precision and attention to detail to create a functional car is extremely
important. Tesla is a company that seems to be more experimental than others, constantly finding
ways to create and improve products such as the electric car series with fully automated driving.
The Tesla Model Y is a car that was released in March of 2019, it’s an electric car that performs
as expected with well-deserved ratings. During the production period when the car was first
released, there was a problem with a specific piece of the car’s ventilation system, one of the
parts wasn't working properly and could not be used. To prevent launch delays which would
7
upset many, Tesla chose to use 3D printed sand casts. This car was one of the first, if not the very
first car to be as popular as it is while using 3D print-aided parts with over 180,000 cars being
sold to date. Research was done by a small group in 2019 about the application of 3D printing in
full-size construction. Their research consisted of creating a 15-meter-long bridge using an
industrial printer, they found that “it is feasible to apply the proposed method to print full-size
structures, and avoid losses due to model/parameter errors''(science direct. 2019), basically
saying that full-size construction is completely possible if the factors are carefully considered
(many factors go into 3D printing such as speed, amount of material, etc). Preventing failure is
so critical as full-size construction comes with full-sized risks, a small error can ruin an entire
project. As the paper says though, errors aren’t caused by the printers themselves, it’s more so
human error that leads to failures.
What Is the “Manufacturing Process”
Defining the Manufacturing Process/Processes
Under the broad term “manufacturing process”, there are four main types that are most
commonly used. With businesses evolving, so did the manufacturing process, the simplistic
image of assembly lines and dirty workers tirelessly working is now a thing of the past with all
the new, complicated processes involved. The four types of manufacturing are Repetitive
manufacturing, discrete manufacturing, job shop manufacturing, and process manufacturing,
each with its ups and downs, strengths, and weaknesses. Repetitive is the simplest with an object
pretty much being mass-produced, like the repetitive process, discrete manufacturing is mostly
the same with a little more complicated setup for items that are similar but may need to be
different for customer demand. Job shop manufacturing in contrast to the first 2 types involves a
low production rate in favor of more customizability of the product, they “produce smaller
8
batches of custom products, either made-to-order(MTO) or made-to-stock(MTS).”(T.Katana,
2022) Finally, continuous manufacturing is mostly similar to repetitive manufacturing except it
involves more raw materials, such as “oil refining” or “metal smelting”.
How These Processes Affect Our Daily Life and Why They Matter
If you’d say time and money affect your life, then these processes have a huge effect on
your life. Depending on the process, costs along with time to produce will be higher and take
longer or the opposite. One thing affecting the final consumer price of an object is its labor costs,
workers have to be paid too of course so the more manual time/effort that's put into a product,
the more it’ll cost. Repetitive manufacturing is usually the cheapest while job shop
manufacturing is usually the most expensive as it’s more custom and cannot mass produce parts
the same way. Another cost-affecting factor is part complexity, “Complexity relates to how
sophisticated a particular part is and the number of production steps and separate processes it
takes to achieve the final design.”(C.Williams, 2020). If your part has many twists and turns with
intricate shapes, of course, it’ll be more difficult to produce and thus it’ll cost more for the added
time and effort. Some objects have to go through multiple manufacturing processes and “with
each process the cost increases because of the additional manual labor involved in
set-up”(C.Williams, 2020). This is all to say, the manufacturing process affects our daily life
because of the cost that we, the consumers, have to pay for an object. Imagine if the price of
simple running shoes costs 300 dollars or if a new phone costs just 200 dollars, it’s almost
life-changing.
How Can 3D Printing Replace the Manufacturing Process
How 3D Printing and the Manufacturing Process are Already Related
9
3D printing and the manufacturing process are more closely related than anyone realizes,
especially considering 3D printing is regarded as a simple hobby. Firstly, both are used to create
objects, there is absolutely no limit on what either printing or the manufacturing process can
create and the only limiting factor is imagination. Both use “additive process”, you know,
building an object up layer by layer. 3D printing wasn't the first to use this process but I believe
it does it better than any other solution. This is where the blaring similarities end though, 3D
printing does not involve manual labor, and costs don't depend on anything except material and
time.
Current and Past Use of 3D Printing in Manufacturing
One company uses 3D printing continuously in its manufacturing process, in fact, it’s the
main thing they use. HP SmileDirectClub uses 3D printing to create custom-ordered molds; they
create roughly 50,000 molds per day. Back in 2018, they created over ten million parts using
printing alone. Think about how much time and money was saved compared to the usual process
which would not only take much longer but would increase costs drastically. Printing has even
bigger applications than custom molds though, the Aerospace and Defense industry actively uses
it too with “the first use of the technology going back to 1989”(AFMG. 2021). Not only
prototypes but actual, functioning parts are also being made and used for airplanes. Though a
majority of parts aren't made from printing, in the future it is entirely possible that an entire plane
could be made from 3D printed parts.
How 3D Printing Can and Already Has Replaced Parts of the Manufacturing Process
Let’s get one thing clear, some parts of the manufacturing process are simply
irreplaceable, especially by 3D printing. One example is the smelting of iron to turn it into
something more useful, that's simply not what 3D printing is for. However, processes involving
10
the creation of goods are what printing excels at. In processes in which repetitive creation of
goods is something that 3D printing can and already has replaced in the manufacturing process,
many companies use 3D printers to create parts where there is little to no customization to save
time and resources. Even in processes that require massive customization, because of the way 3D
printers work, customization is easier than ever. With the simple edit of a file, a 3D printer is
making a completely new, customized object. If 3D printers are already so popular not only
among consumers but businesses, imagine how popular they’ll be in ten-twenty years. Entire
houses are already being created with printers, imagine entire infrastructures like bridges being
made in the span of a few days compared to weeks or months. For reference, the first computer
was made in 1946, think about all the improvements from the first computer which weighed
almost 100,000 pounds to now where we have computers in the palm of our hands. Now, the first
3D printer was made 40 years ago in the 1980s, we’re already making houses so think what
would be possible in 10, 20, or even 30 years. At the pace they’re improving, I don't think it
would be a reach in the slightest to say that most manufacturing processes will be obsolete with
the rise of 3D printers.
Conclusion
The manufacturing process is a diverse group of processes that enable us to create objects
ranging from cars to houses, anything that has been created has used the manufacturing process.
3D printing has been around since the 1980s, it uses the additive process to create objects and is
highly customizable with little human input to function. Though regarded as a “hobby” in
consumers' hands, when used by businesses it is highly useful. Not only does it keep costs down
due to less manual labor, but is more time-efficient. There are some processes that 3D printing
11
cannot do such as the conversion of raw materials into useful products, there are many it can not
only do but do better than typical processes.
AMFG. (2021, April 1). Industrial Applications of 3D Printing: The Ultimate Guide.
https://amfg.ai/industrial-applications-of-3d-printing-the-ultimate-guide/
Conlin, B. (2022, February 10). More Than Prototypes: A Look at the 3D Printing
Industry. Business News Daily.
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9297-3d-printing-for-business.html
Diagram of Ender Pro 3. (2022). [FIGURE 1].
https://uni.illinois.edu/internal/3d-printer-instructions
Kane, M. (2022, January 16). US: Two Tesla EVs Break Into Top 20 Best-Selling Vehicles
In 2021. InsideEVs.
https://insideevs.com/news/561043/us-tesla-top20-sales-2021/
Katana, T. (2022, May 2). The 5 types of manufacturing processes. Katana.
https://katanamrp.com/blog/types-of-manufacturing-processes/
Kenton, W. (2021, December 1). What Is Manufacturing? Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/manufacturing.asp
Knerl, L. (2021, October 13). What’s New in Commercial Uses for 3D Printing. HP.
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tech-takes/commercial-uses-for-3d-printing
Linke, R. (2017, December 7). Additive manufacturing, explained. MIT Sloan.
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/additive-manufacturing-explained#:
%7E:text=Additive%20manufacturing%20is%20the%20process,the%20final%20product
%20is%20complete.
12
M. (2022, April 1). The Next Revolution In 3D Printing? 3D Metal Printing. IQS
Directory Resource Center.
https://www.iqsdirectory.com/resources/the-next-revolution-in-3d-printing-3d-met
al-printing/
Marr, B. (2021, July 13). 7 Amazing Real-World Examples Of 3D Printing. Bernard Marr.
https://bernardmarr.com/7-amazing-real-world-examples-of-3d-printing/
The Now: What is 3D Printing? (n.d.). GCFGlobal.Org.
https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/thenow/what-is-3d-printing/1/
Sher, D. (2020, May 21). Tesla shows massive generatively designed part in Model Y
underbody. 3D Printing Media Network - The Pulse of the AM Industry.
https://www.3dprintingmedia.network/tesla-shows-massive-generatively-designed
-3d-printed-part-in-model-y-underbody/
Williams, C. (2020, March 17). 6 Factors Affecting Manufacturing Costs. Star Rapid.
https://www.starrapid.com/blog/6-things-that-will-impact-your-manufacturing-cos
ts/
Wilson, G. (2020, May 16). The evolution of 3D printing in manufacturing.
Manufacturing Digital.
https://manufacturingdigital.com/technology/evolution-3d-printing-manufacturing
Zuo.Z, Gong.J, Huang.Y, ZhanY, Gong.N, Zhang.L.(2019, February). Experimental
research on transition from scale 3D printing to full-size printing in construction.
ScienceDirect.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061819304660