In a recent blog post I raised the question Are You Ready for 3-D Printing? This revolutionary technology is changing the way we make "things", and I use this term intentionally, because we are not limited to plastics, metals and common production materials but are seeing materials we would not have envisioned for production processes. Each day brings new breakthroughs and products as the race to capture competitive advantage heats up.

Many paradigms are falling by the wayside and many more to come. To help break down these mindsets and help us see the new opportunities a new set of guidelines is needed. A great source of this guidance is in the recently released book titled "Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing" which was reviewed in Industry Week under title of The Ten Principles of 3-D Printing. I've provided a condensed version of the ten principles below which should encourage you to read the more detailed review at IW, or better yet get a copy of the book.

Principle one: Manufacturing complexity is free. In traditional manufacturing, the more complicated an object's shape, the more it costs to make. On a 3-D printer, complexity costs the same as simplicity.

Principle two: Variety is free. A single 3-D printer can make many shapes. Like a human artisan, a 3-D printer can fabricate a different shape each time.

Principle three: No assembly required. 3-D printing forms interlocked parts.In current factories, machines make identical objects that are later assembled by robots or human workers, sometimes continents away. The more parts a product contains, the longer it takes to assemble and the more expensive it becomes to make. Less assembly will shorten supply chains, saving money on labor and transportation.

Principle four: Zero lead time. A 3-D printer can print on demand when an object is needed. The capacity for on-the-spot manufacturing reduces the need for companies to stockpile physical inventory.

Principle five: Unlimited design space. Traditional manufacturing technologies and human artisans can make only a finite repertoire of shapes. A printer can fabricate shapes that until now have been possible only in nature.

Principle six: Zero skill manufacturing. To make an object of equal complexity, a 3-D printer requires less operator skill than does an injection molding machine. Unskilled manufacturing opens up new business models and could offer new modes of production for people in remote environments or extreme circumstances.

Principle seven: Compact, portable manufacturing. Per volume of production space, a 3-D printer has more manufacturing capacity than a traditional manufacturing machine.

Principle eight: Less waste by-product. 3-D printers that work in metal create less waste by-product than do traditional metal manufacturing techniques. As printing materials improve, "Net shape" manufacturing could be a greener way to make things.

Principle nine: Infinite shades of materials. Combining different raw materials into a single product is difficult using today's manufacturing machines. Since traditional manufacturing machines carve, cut, or mold things into shape, these processes can't easily blend together different raw materials.

Principle ten: Precise physical replication. A digital music file can be endlessly copied with no loss of audio quality. In the future, 3-D printing will extend this digital precision to the world of physical objects. Scanning technology and 3-D printing will together introduce high resolution shapeshifting between the physical and digital worlds.

Looking at these ten areas of opportunities the area that first comes to mind is compressors -scroll, screw, centrifugal and others. The second could be the supply chain, accelerating the "re-shoring" trend underway.

Where do you see the opportunities?

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Larry Butz, President of GEA Consulting, for contributing this blog entry.