Are We Due for "Rapid" Change?

The novel manufacturing techniques like sintering, stereolithography, etc addresses the rising demand for custom-built products and caters to diverse engineering, automtive, aerospace, construction, transport, automation, healthcare aplications, while satisfying stringent material specifications. These methods practically build componensts from any material - metal, plastic, paper, etc. These processes substitute several of the conventional machining processes and offers a viable solution to the emerging technical needs.

However, they cannot completely relpace the existing manufacturing scenario owing to its high investment, less awareness and dearth of long term sustainability.

I believe this technology to be just around the corner.

Unlike flying cars, the possibility for making this a viable and economical process is certainly possible.

Many of the tools required for this already exist, including the electronic, which are becoming cheaper and more sophisticated by the day.

FYI It is here. Connecting rods for all engines manufacured by the big 3 and Japan use powered metal. Then it is injected into a die and pressed. It is fused from the heat of the pressure. bye the way the split in the cap is no longer cut. A scribe line is placed on each side of the crank through and pressure applied to the ID and it splits on the scribed line. Hope this helps your thoughts.

Virtual tool changing is one solution for bending. Instead of setting up the hard tooling to match a single part, the tooling is setup for a group of parts.