The killer app is "just in time" manufacturing of single parts from a gigantic library. This will create a "long tail" type business that can offer a huge line of obscure parts that otherwise aren't available, as the original manufacturing lines will have been closed down long ago.
Someday, 3D printing will probably be fast enough and improved enough to displace a variety of low-volume manufacturing applications. "Improved enough" to my mind would be manufacturing in metal with much more precise tolerance.
Someday, 3D printing will probably be fast enough and improved enough to displace a variety of low-volume manufacturing applications. "Improved enough" to my mind would be manufacturing in metal with much more precise tolerance.