Will 3D Printing Help or Hurt the Economy and Jobs?

[RedSox2013]

As with any technology which is a game changer for business, you have to ask yourself, will it be a long term bull or bear for the economy in general? Those against it say that it will eventually kill jobs, get rid of production line employees, and send unemployment rates skyward. In my opinion this is far from the case. 3D Printing has and will continue to open up new job areas for designers, bring manufacturing back to the US from China, and lower the costs of manufacturing and hence the price of goods substantially.

In the short term, there will be jobs lost, however instead of production line workers, we will have designers of all things. Instead of prototype manufacturers, we will have attorney's dealing with patents, and companies working specifically on computers which can speed up 3D Printing. Think about all the companies that have popped up in the last couple years around 3D Printing and multiple that by 20 within 3-4 years, and possibly 1000 within a decade. That's where I think we are headed.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

[AndrewK]

I think in the short run, it will hurt jobs. However as the economy adjusts to 3D printing and more and more people get these printers in their homes, we will see a huge demand for printers, filaments, parts, and repairmen. This will create more and more jobs.

[3dprintronics]

3D printing is the next revolution. I think that it will help the economy rather than hurting it. Lets look at some of the aspects.

Jobs - It will create a whole new genre of jobs. Designers, developers - hardware and software, maintenance guys, support guys and many more. It is something like the computer revolution which gave birth to giants like Google and Microsoft who now employ millions of people.

Production - As the technology improves, it will be used for production. 3d printing will increase the rate of production, decrease the cost and add more flexibility to it.

Environment, Time and Cost of Transport - This may sound futuristic. Today when we need something at Place A, we transport it from place B. In future, 3d printing may make it possible to print that part at Place A itself. Imagine the amount of fuel we will save and the amount of green house gases which will be reduced as a result of this. This would be something akin to today's video conferencing. One of NASA's aim in sending a 3d printer in space is precisely this. To save on the cost of transporting small parts from Earth to the Space Station!!

I will keep adding to this interesting thread. Cheers.

Vishesh
www.3dprintronics.com