The 3-D Printing Revolution: It's Happening, and it Will Transform your Operations and Strategy

Three-dimensional printing, or additive manufacturing, is transformative: it enables easy customization, eliminates both assembly and inventories, and facilitates product redesigning. Firms should examine how this technology can enhance their offerings and those of their competitors, and how operations should be reconfigured to optimize fabrication. They should also assess how the commercial environment will be affected. Three ways to adopt 3-D printing include beginning with high-end goods, allowing effects to trickle down; focusing first on components of a product, swapping out old-method parts for 3-D ones; and focusing on components shared in multiple products and replacing them with 3-D manufactured ones in a cut-across strategy.