Gap in Value Chain: An Opportunity for 3D Print Industry
Recently, 3D printing has become a heated topic that not only raises public interests, but also draws attention from the Wall Street. Analyst from Citi predicted that within 5 years, 3D printing would achieve triple market size than its 2-billion-dollars’ size in 2012.1 Meanwhile, companies ranging from giant retailers to nationwide service providers are preparing to gain a foothold in future market of 3D printing. Major retailers like Staples, Wal-Mart, and Amazon started to sell 3D printers online and in selected stores. As a frontier of print service, UPS start to test 3D print services in selected locations in San Diego, Washington and Frisco.
However, complex usage and high-price are still two main problems blocking 3D printers’ mass customization. According to a survey conducted in UK, 75% respondents would like to have a workshop or training before they begin designing and 67.3% of them would like to have support.2 In fact, the deep drive for consumer consumption is appealing product rather than appealing manufacture process. So there are opportunities for business to complete the value chain between 3D printing and the mass market.
Some 3D printer providers have already realized the value gap and taken measures. As one of the leading companies, as its name indicts, 3D System Corp is ambitious to create a system around 3D print, including printer, materials and related services. To customize 3D printer, they cooperate with designers to offer available 3D templates for users to create their own 3D products. From UCD point of view, they are in the right direction, but that’s still far away from enough.
In short term, in a feature of rapid prototyping, 3D print should cooperate with existing fast consumption industry such as fast fashion, food processing and toy production to bridge the value gap. It’s a win-win strategy for both sides. With 3D print, companies can improve customer satisfaction by offering personalized products. In return, 3D print has direct and easy access to ready market in fast consumption industry.3
In long term, 3D print has to face with tons of newly created products. On the one hand, there are security issues. As 3D scanners can help people duplicate existing products,4 some people may abuse its function. Imagine that it’s dangerous to let a thief to make a copy of your keys so easily with the assistance of 3D printers. On the other hand, providing accessible access to average consumers will lead to overproduction and enormous waste.5 In the future, there will be a need for reusing 3D printer material. For example, there may be a machine that can melt existing 3D print product and turn them back into available material for next production. It’s also a market blank for business to insert into the 3D print market.
To sum up, to achieve success in 3D print business, companies should bridge the value gap between 3D print and consumers’ need. In short term, companies can have ready access to existing market through cooperation with fast consumption industry. In long term, companies should take security and recycling issues into consideration to tap into latent needs and win over customer groups in the future.
Reference:
1.“About Wall Street’s Enthusiasm For 3D Printing”, by Rakesh Sharma, edited on August 2013,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rakeshsharma/2013/08/27/about-wall-streets-enthusiasm-for-3d-printing/.
2.“Research:3D Printing and UK Consumer Market”, by Aysu bozkurt, edited on Novermber, 2012, http://3dprintingindustry.com/2012/11/11/research-3d-printing-and-uk-consumer-market/.
3.“Fast Fashion Business Model: What, Why and How?”, by Byoungho Jin, Julie Chang, Delisia R. Matthews, Megha Gupta, http://www.irma-international.org/viewtitle/55212/.
4. “New 3D Scanner Could Kick Off Copyright Wars”, by Emma Woollacott, edited on August, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2013/08/23/new-3d-scanner-could-kick-off-copyright-wars/.
5. “Is Eco-Friendly 3D Printing a Myth?”, by Melba Kurman, Triple Helix Innovation and Hod Lipson, Cornell University, July 20, 2013, http://www.livescience.com/38323-is-3d-printing-eco-friendly.html.