24 Reasons why 3D printing isn’t expected to take over mass production any time soon.

Unless mass produced items diminish due to either reduced consumption or a widespread and unprecedented decrease in the appetite for mass customization 3D printing will not be taking over the world of Plastic Injection Molding manufacturing.

Plastic Injection Molding & Manufacturing is used for massive industrial production pumping out millions of the same product, extremely quick and accurate to meet market need and demand.

3D printing can speed up the design process and is widely used by industrial designers. Outsourcing a prototype may take days or weeks while using 3D printer takes only hours and the costs are much lower. Additionally designers are able to make multiple concepts based on these models and catch flaws in an early stage.

3D printing still remains slower than conventional manufacturing, it is reasonable to anticipate that 3D printing will probably extend each of its current niches and almost certainly find itself a few more, but large scale manufacturing can be expected to thrive.

Here are 28 reasons why 3D printing isn’t expected to take over mass production any time soon.

1. 3D Printing is an agonizingly slow operation
2. 3D Printing specializes in niche applications
3. 3D Printing has an extremely low throughput per station
4. 3D Printing is hard to scale
5. 3D Printing mostly produces small items
6. 3D Printing is unsuited to volume production
7. 3D Printing mostly produces plastic-only products
8. 3D Printing has a limited range of fabrication materials
9. 3D Printing produces mostly low precision output
10. 3D Printing produces mostly fragile, low durability products
11. 3D Printing produces mostly single fabrication material products
12. 3D Printing is mostly only for products with no moving parts
13. 3D Printing has mostly a low quality surface finish
14. The highest spec 3D printers are still dramatically lower throughput than conventional production line equivalents
15. The cheapest 3D printers can make small, decorative knick-knacks, but not much else
16. 3D Printing is great for educational and hobby use
17. 3D Printing is great for making cheap toys
18. 3D Printing has serious cost issues on almost all large-scale applications
19. 3D Printing has unresolved technical problems on most fronts
20. 3D Printing is really only suitable for DIY or small startup usage
21. 3D Printing’s only serious design role is prototyping
22. 3D Printing ‘s only serious production role is for making molds
23. 3D Printing is best suited to the desktop, not factory operation
24. 3D Printing are like CNC and robotics they are very niche

So even the fastest 3D printer today is still slower than traditional manufacturing. But on the other side, 3D printing does have some advantages:

1. 3D Printing provides less waste
2. 3D Printing offers new shapes and structures
3. 3D Printing provides new combinations of materials
4. 3D Printing reduces development costs
5. 3D Printing speeds up the time to market
6. 3D Printing offers endless customization
7. 3D Printing provides high precision
8. 3D Printing has embedded electronics