3D Printing Accelerates Product Development

3D printers lay down particles of plastic, metal, or wood in thin layers to build up into solid objects. 3D printing is also called additive manufacturing.

German athletic shoemaker Adidas has said that 3D printers have reduced the time it needed to evaluate a new prototype by four to six weeks to one or two days. Before 3D printing, Adidas prototypes were handmade by 12 technicians. With the new technology, no more than two people are required to produce them.

American athletic shoemaker Nike seems to agree. Within six months, they were able to go through 12 rounds of prototype iterations for a boot for professional American football players.

The three biggest makers of 3D printers are:

1. EOS of Germany
2. 3D Systems of US
3. Stratasys, a US-Israeli company whose clients include Adidas, Nike, Reebok, New Balance, and Under Armour.

Mass shoe production via 3D printing has not arrived yet due to the slow speed at which printers produce items. Currently, it takes a Stratasys machine about two hours to produce a single shoe.

The above is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Financial Times on June 10, 2013, page 15.

haditaheri is also on twitter