Negative Effects of Three Dimension Printer - Essay Example

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THREE DIMENSION PRINTER Introduction Three dimensional printing also known as additive manufacturing is any of different ways used to come up with three dimensional objects from a digital file. This is achieved by a process whereby computer controlled additive processes layers of given materials are laid down until the entire object is finally obtained. Recently most manufacturing are moving very fast in adopting this devices in their firms with the idea of reduced variable cost, efficiency and speed without considering costs and other consequences (Birtchnell and Hoyle, 2014). The ways in which products are being processed and manufactured has already been influenced by three dimensional printing. This is because its technological nature has influenced the manufacturing process hence having an impact on security, social, environment and economic thinking. General challenges of three dimensional Bill Conerly argues that three dimensional printers the general cost of the three dimensional printing is generally very high hence it does not favour small production firms and industries as it involve heavy capital injections. According to Ioannides and Quak Different analysts especially economists also suggest that three dimension printing has sparkled off what we call ‘third industrial revolution’. Since its introduction it has brought new and expanded social, economic and technical effects in the production field. Objectively, the increase use of additive manufacturing has allowed and enabled mass customization in different sectors like consumer markets, aerospace and healthcare emphasized by Rifkin. Narrowing down to the main objective lets discuss the effect of additive manufacturing in the following three areas: Negative Effects of additive manufacturing in value of products There are challenges of three dimensional printing in relation to the value and production of products in industries and its end users. It major parts affected include mass production and customization, rapid manufacturing and prototyping and the related cost of production. This is being to the traditional manufacturing (Ioannides & Quak, 2014). Firstly, additive manufacturing has a high a cost of production. Generally production that involves large quantities of products is generally higher than production using traditional manufacturing (Birtchnell & Hoyle, 2014). The cost of purchasing these devices is different since they perform different tasks. For instance, there are those who print different types of objects, those that can produce coloured products and those that are monochrome. Their costs are differently and very expensive Secondly, three dimension printing limits materials that can be printed hence affecting mass customization in respect for commercial reasons. Additive manufacturing is expected to incorporate mix different types of materials involving the ability to incorporate different materials when printing a single product. This achieves multi material diversity and capability (Rifkin, 2011). Three dimension printing reduces mass production quantity. Traditional manufacturing is able to produce a large quantity of products for example pipelines of moving natural resources but many three dimensional printers cannot produce such. It can be approximated that additive manufacturing can work with up to one hundred different raw materials. This does not make a huge difference when comparing it with the raw materials used in the traditional manufacturing (Birtchnell & Hoyle, 2014). This has left a room for more research to improvise the three dimensional printing devices to be more robust and durable Additive manufacturing has different speed hence affecting rapid manufacturing negatively. They depend on the volume of production, large volumes are produced slowly hence being a disadvantage. Therefore there should be improvement in performance characteristics like speed, ease on how to use, resolution, speed, reliability, autonomous operation and repeatability (Rifkin, 2011). Lastly, rapid prototyping has led to production of inferior goods. This was brought about by the entry of additive manufacturing which was not experienced with traditional manufacturing. Basing on the example from medical field, additive manufacturing can cause existence printed drugs (Ioannides & Quak, 2014). Gathering of chemical components on a molecular stage with three dimensional printers is possible since they have developed a prototype that makes drugs and medicine. This has changed the pharmaceutical field by giving a chance to patients to make their own medicine with chemical blue prints they acquire in pharmacies. Negative implications of three dimension printing on employment Additive manufacturing may lead to the loss of a lot of job opportunities in the manufacturing industry although it may also give a chance for creation of new but less opportunities. It will do away with the need for assembly as it will need few raw materials and resources (Birtchnell & Hoyle, 2014). It will have a less chains of supply. In addition industries will not need manual physical inventories simply because supply for demand is met sufficiently and instantly met. Other negative implications of additive manufacturing on employment include: Three dimensional printing reduces retail jobs (Rifkin, 2011). Additive manufacturing are mostly found and available on design websites, this means that consumers will not be required to shop manually as they can just print it or shops will be required to go online where they will offer digital design and services to customers. This will eventually lead to closure of many retail shops and outlets leading to loss of many jobs increasing the level of unemployment. Additive manufacturing will reduce job opportunities in manufacturing sector. Since additive manufacturing is more accurate and they are faster, companies are investing largely to get these automated devices labour (Ioannides & Quak, 2014). They consider them because the variable cost of these devices is lower compared to that of employees. It reduces demand for employees generally. An increase in production caused by these additive manufacturing will eventually lead to low demand of workers. The most affected class is the low skilled employees. Three dimensional printing will continue squeezing relatively manufacturing employment hence leading to massive job loss and increased unemployment (Birtchnell & Hoyle, 2014). Challenges of three dimensional printing to the economy and industries As we have seen from above the demerits of three dimensional printing affects mostly industrial sector therefore affecting the economy in the following ways: Three dimensional devices energy consumption rate is high. They require large amount of energy since the processing power is low; the devices need to run for a long time. It therefore implies that the devices take in a lot of energy during production. This increases running cost. It will lead to production of illegal and unwanted products. Production of illegal products like guns will be easy to manufacture (Rifkin, 2011). For example ‘liberator’ the first three dimensional printing device showed how it was easy to manufacture a gun. This will require the government to come up with ways on how to manage such device tendency or it will lead to manufacture of more unwanted products. This is because every individual has skills to design some product. It will lead to loss of copyrights and patents by industries (Ioannides & Quak, 2014). Individuals and different industries may design or develop the same, similar or identical type of products and replicas. This will be against the law. It may bring conflict among competing industries, individuals or even countries. It will also cause designers to refuse to release their developments or new designs unless fair patent laws are enforced. Three dimensional printers will increase cases of scanning and fraud. Individuals will be able to print sensitive particulars like identity card, credit cards, and use them for canning missions like robbing (Birtchnell & Hoyle, 2014). Most of the three dimensional printing device is limited by size. Mostly they are designed to fit on desktops implying that they have almost identical proportions. Although there are others with expandable larger parts bur they are very costly being unfavourable for many companies. Conclusion Although product development sector of prototyping has hailed three dimensional printing as being fast and efficient in terms of productions (Birtchnell and Hoyle 2014). There are serious downfalls of these systems. As we have discussed above the state should come up with right measures as to cub this challenges to avoid cases of conflict between individuals, manufacturing industries. Furthermore, these challenges question the working efficiency of these devices as it is not perfect yet manufacturers are rushing on purchasing them. Lastly, these devices raw material is mainly plastic materials posing the question whether these devices are environmental conservatives. References Birtchnell, T., & Hoyle, W. (2014). 3D printing for development in the global south: The 3D4D Challenge. In Ioannides, M., & In Quak, E. (2014). 3D research challenges in cultural heritage: A roadmap in digital heritage preservation. Rifkin, J. (2011). The third industrial revolution: How lateral power is transforming energy, the economy, and the world. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More