Impact of Increased Use of 3d Printers on Material Usage and Wastage - Case Study Example

IMPACT OF INCREASED USE OF 3D PRINTERS ON MATERIAL USAGE AND WASTAGE Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: (2,733 Words) Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1 Definition of Terms 1 Methodology 2 Rationale 2 Literature Review 2 Research on 3D Printers’ Global market 7 FINDINGS 8 Research question 8 Review of the Research Methods 8 Environmental impact 9 Time Utilization 9 No Tool Requirement 10 CHALLENGES 10 CONCLUSION 11 REFERENCE 11 INTRODUCTION There is a global shift in printing technology from 2D printers to currently 3D printers. The change in technology has a tremendous impact on consumer taste, and preference since consumers will go for the new technology rather than sticking to the old technology. Consumers always change regardless of the purpose they want to accomplish. The shift, therefore, poses significant challenges in material utilization to achieve a maximum return at a relatively lower cost. The research, therefore, looks at the impact of wastage of material due to global move of consumers to 3D printers in printing technology. The research literature review examines globalization theories and global media in approaching impact of 3D printers in accordance to the global users of the technology. The overall intention of the research is to provide a guideline on the use of 3D printers in order to reduce material wastage since available resources are scares. The study is divided into two that is a literature review, and findings and recommendation. Definition of Terms 3D- Three dimension Globalization- The constriction of the world economy into a small village because of advanced technology and improved infrastructure. Common example is the increased use of internet and airplanes, making communication to be easy and faster (Powell and Ghauri, 2008). Innovation- Coming up of new ways of doing things through technological improvement. Manufacturing- Process of pulling resources and tailoring them to produce a products in large scale. Methodology The research was based on the case studies, journals, product review websites and observation of various companies that has adopted 3D printing technology. Rationale There is increased the need of the creation of sustainable environment by adoption of technology that inclines to achieving green economy. The call for green economy technology is globally since there have been various adverse effects on diverse countries experiencing the effect of global warming and sporadic rains, unlike the previous periods, where conditions were accurately predicted. The rationale of the research is to find out the impact of global euphoria on 3D printing technology to utilization of resources and best practices that enables environmental friendly use of the product. Literature Review According to Lewis (2002), globalization has led to a major revolution in trade and exchange of resources which includes labor, technology, and capital. Globalization entails the integration of political, economical, technological, social and legal (PASTEL) aspect of countries to form a global market. The increased activity in the global platform has been stimulated by the presence of international business carrying operation in more than one country. The countries political and legal condition has been a major stimulant too since, without permissive political and legal environment, investors cannot find it attractive to do business. The local social aspects and communities are slowly absorbed and transformed into adopting global social elements (Powell and Ghauri, 2008). The mains features include the adoption of common language or translation which reduces language barriers that limit global trade significantly. The elimination of the language barriers increases global business where people can interact more and exchange products, technology, labor and capital. Increased mobility of the factors of technology encourages innovation and invention that improves consumer satisfaction in terms of diversity and quality of the product. The globalization converges the different taste and preference of consumers for the development of a new global taste. The invention of 3D technology is one of the products of globalization since the producers saw the need or consumers needed something new in the printing technology that motivated manufacturers to think of 3D technology (Makhbul, 2012). Just like Android phone sector, manufacturers bring in new brands in phases with the aim of stimulating demand and maintaining its position in the competitive industry. The same applies to the manufacturers of printers, and they need to stimulate demand and maintain or improve its position by bringing in new brands into the market. Global market poses more challenges since it involves competition of many and large companies. The global market also increases the scope of taste and preference to be satisfied with the wider scope, unlike manufacturer serving the local market. The manufacturers of 3D printers need to consider local social fabrics are deploying the product to the local market since the global consumer culture is built by the integration of smaller units of local consumer culture (Lewis, 2002). Therefore, consumer segmentation is crucial in developing a sustainable brand that is going to be accepted in a large market scope that goes beyond local boundaries. There has been a shift in manufacturing industries ideologies. For example, new cars were made with two colors only that red and black since then the manufacturers have evolved. They have changed from product-centric organization culture to consumer centric organization culture, where they tailor the product to meet customer taste and preference since they are more concerned with customer satisfaction than profit maximization. The effect of globalization of local markets stimulated the speed of innovation and invention by manufacturers in order to meet rising customer demands to solve new problems that arise in their daily lives (Kunwar, 2015). The most common reason for 3D printers is the need of consumers to print object with more than two dimensions since they were tired or finding 2D printing unattractive since they have used for a long period. However, Jameson and Miyoshi (1998), they criticize the use of global consumer culture in the design of product since the model will assume the need for small groups of consumers. The small groups include that consumer who consumes a product for prestige purpose. Therefore, tailoring a product to meet global taste and preference will bring no prestige to such consumer thus avoiding consumption of such product. Thus growing emphasize on segmenting the global market to fit the need diverse consumer taste and preference that failed to integrate. Prestige consumers are charged premium prices that fetch manufacturers’ high margins compared to the brands developed to meet the larger group of consumers (Dasgupta and Nederveen Pieterse, 2009). 3D printer technology has captured the attention of the high net worth consumers due to its high price that cannot be afforded by low-income companies. The prices are high due new presence and few adopters of the technology. Therefore, charging premium prices is still visible for the manufacturers before saturation of the market where the product will be priced to fetch cost and a slim profit margin. The reduction in margin will be achieved by manufacturers moving from their local market to international market in order to tap cheap raw material which are available in other countries and not in their country of origin (Firth, 2013). The manufacturers prefer producing new product in their domestic country due to issues of control and management since new product requires more attention that existing product, regardless of the cost, manufacturers will prefer producing products in their country of origin since consumers are not price sensitive when it comes to a new product (Chen, 2009). The 3D technology printers are in the same stage since they are few manufacturers, and they are still priced at premium prices. The printers have hit the global market recently thus giving the brand a longer life to dominate the market. Globalization calls for common understanding between producers, distributors and consumers (Boatright, 2000). Therefore, manufacturers have majored on translating various instructions into different languages in order to increase the market scope of their product. The company websites give consumer or distributor choice to choose which language he/she prefers thus increasing consumer awareness in the global platform that increases the need for the product and consumer reaction (Bernal, 2011). Consumer feedback is valuable to manufacturers since they use the feedback to tailor the product to meet the demands of the consumer. The intermediaries or distributors are the best channels of communication that ensures forward, and backward information is effectively conveyed. The choice of distributors in the global market is core since the manufacturers need the product to reach the greater market as much as possible. Consumer perception is an image of the product reputation in the market (Bernal, 2011). Therefore, it is crucial to interpreting consumer perception in tailoring a product to appeal to consumer needs. The manufacturer cannot be able to determine the consumer perception of a ‘closed door’ environment, thus need to develop research and development department which goes straight to the market where product is consumed and utilize the feedback obtained from distributors. The department gathers the information that entails a change in consumer taste and preference, new problem consumers are facing and then transformation products to meet the immediate need before any competitor notices the need (Beke, 2010). Therefore, the success of a product requires a complete cycle of communication with clear channels in order to ensure that manufacturer and consumer communicate effectively. Consumers are so sensitive to the cultural aspects that the product or promotion of the product contains. They select a product that contains elements that can be identified with or have similarities within their locality (Beke, 2010). The consumer behavior, therefore, calls manufacturers to choose distributors and channels of advertising in order to appeal local culture that is integrated into the global market. Therefore, it is crucial for 3D printers’ manufacturers to incorporate international and local distributors in distributing the product to the market in order to maximize sales. The increased markets also reach poses more challenges to the manufacturer thus enable the company to be more innovative and inventive to solve the ever-rising consumer needs. The 3D printer companies combine both pull and push promotional strategy in marketing product both locally and internationally in order to stimulate demand by creating awareness and educating potential customers on capability of the printer. Pull promotional strategy involves helping franchisers, distributors and retailers to market the product in order to stimulate demand which increases the purchases made by franchisers, distributors and retailers (Stiglitz, 2002). The push promotional strategy entails company marketing company 3D printers product a product under Company name which in turn stimulate demand for the product both franchisers shops, distributors and retailers company product, the stimulant originates from customers awareness created from company not retailers or distributors (Stiglitz, 2002). The channels of advertisement will be evaluated in accordance to coverage, cost and timing of the advertisement (Stiglitz, 2002). The company can be involved in some promotional activities in the public or increase corporate responsibility in order to enhance their presence in the public. For example, printing sculptures for renowned heroes in different communities or countries for free or at a lower charge. These strategies increase imminence of the 3D printers in the global market thus increasing company profit and reputation. Research on 3D Printers’ Global market According to ARC Group Worldwide, leading manufacturers of 3D printers, they are confident that the global market is still wide and offers considerable scope for the company to increase its production by 10% in order to meet the rising demand. However, there is increased competition from other 3D printer manufacturers which includes Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) and Stratasys, Inc. The most immediate threat to ARC group is HP Company since it is gaining global acceptance at a high rate that poses significant challenge ARC whose growth has been increasing at a lower rate. ARC records sales at an average of $340Million worth of 3D printers yearly. The company command more than 50% of 3D printer globally thus having more stake to the issues arising from the use of 3D printing technologies worldwide. According o ARC Group release, 3D printers are capable of many tasks and with high production capacity compared to 2D printers. The printer greatly applies to companies dealing with civil engineering and any printing required by computer aided designs with three dimensions. The printer has amazing capabilities to print objects such as metals, plastics, polyethene and shapes that are in 3 dimensions which is a fantastic product that consumers are availed with by printers’ manufacturers. FINDINGS Research question What is the impact of 3D printers in the global market? Does increased use of 3D printers have impact on waste of resources? Review of the Research Methods The research used qualitative and descriptive nature due to the nature of the variables, and recommendation needed and use of the research. The primary reason for adopting qualitative approach is the fact that it provided a platform of interacting with the natural setting of the variables and coming up with more accurate information necessary to arrive at conclusive research. The qualitative approach also enabled the researcher to interact with the interviewee extensively and allowed respondents to explain themselves exhaustively since it uses an open-ended type of questions. The research was based more on the effect or impact of increased use of 3D printers in the global market on resource utilization, thus making it appropriate to categorize research to be descriptive and explanatory research. The data was collected from respective 3D companies and distributors, Journals and major 3D users in the global market. The research yielded the following findings from collected data; Environmental impact According to the findings, 3D printers are environmental friendly since it reduces transportation of carbon footprint. The design of the products sent digitally and printed in the market closer to the consumer thus reducing pollution resulting from transportation of prototype of designs. In addition, it eliminates the number of chains of supply which further cut on carbon emission from transportation of carbon footprint to the final user (Stiglitz, 2002). Environmental conservation is the primary aim in the global perspective, therefore; 3D printing technology embraces green economy. The move to environmental protection, 3D printers are able to save huge amount of cost which leads to maximum resource utilization that is using little resources to produce huge number of product compared to another producer having the same level of resources. The most imminent goal on resources utilization is minimized waste of material such as rare earth metals and few plastic wastes that are harmful to the environment. Time Utilization According to ARC Group instruction manual of 3D printer, the 3D printers can produce designs in mass customization (Arcgroupworldwide.com, n.d.). The ability of mass customization allows the producer to more products without changing anything thus saving a lot on time. According to Orthopedic specialist boosts production with five 3D printers (2015), the printer has ability to solve complex problems since printer is digitally controlled where complex design can be printed which is hard and time consuming to do it physically. According to the research, it was found out that the 3D printers are very crucial in Aerospace sector, where they majorly deal on three-dimension printing. No Tool Requirement The physical drawing of 3D objects requires a lot of tools that require high cost, time and labor to accomplish. The emergence of 3D printers has led to a reduction of such components since a person designs the object digitally through the help of computer aided design software. The design is printed by just commanding the printer that does it in large production and at a lower cost (Arcgroupworldwide.com, n.d.). Therefore, 3D printers has led to decrease in the cost of production in manufacturing companies due to decreased need for labour intensive, drawing time and lower cost due to use of less tools (computer and printer). The 3D printers are expensive and, therefore, the company can lease out during low demand thus fetching more return to the company. CHALLENGES 3D printers are faced with two major challenges that are an agglomeration of nonmaterial in printing since it requires linker of organic molecules in order to produce clear drawings. In addition, 3D printers suffer from nozzle clogging thus it is essential for the person operating to use material with nonmaterial which is considered ideal in overcoming the challenge (Arcgroupworldwide.com, n.d.). CONCLUSION The research concludes that the use of 3D printing technology should be encouraged in global platform in order to save on resources that are becoming more scarce and protect the environment since 3D printing technology reduces waste that are released to environment. In addition, the efficiency of the technology reduces other indirect pollution. REFERENCE Arcgroupworldwide.com, (n.d.). ARC Group Worldwide. [online] Arcgroupworldwide.com. Available at: http://www.arcgroupworldwide.com/[Accessed 7 May 2015]. Auer, P., Efendioğlu, U. and Leschke, J. (2008). Active labour market policies around the world. Geneva: International Labour Office. Beke, J. (2010). Business and Management Aspects of International Accounting Standardization. IJBM, 5(12). Bernal, E. (2011). 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