Friday, February 15, 2013

Obama: 3D printing to be the next revolution in manufacturing

In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, President Obama spoke of ways to revive U.S. manufacturing, pointing to 3D printing as a technology that will create new opportunities in the industry.

"Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio," said the President. "A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There's no reason this can't happen in other towns.

"So tonight, I'm announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the Departments of Defense and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers of high-tech jobs."

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is an advanced manufacturing and design process for making solid 3D objects from a digital file. The traditional subtractive method takes a block of material and cuts or drills away the excess until the desired object takes shape. Additive manufacturing is achieved by layering material in thin slices, creating the desired object with digital precision without wasting any material.

3D printing may be utilized in a wide range of industries including defense, aerospace, automotive, and metals manufacturing. The new technology reduces the time and money involved in designing new products, because actual physical parts are created from digital input, in some cases using industrial-strength materials that range from metals to ceramics to glass.

For more of the Smart Planet story: smartplanet.com

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