🧐 Is 3D Printing the Solution to India’s Infrastructure Problem?
The global 3D printing industry is worth $17.4 Bn! And India aims to gain 5% market share in the next three years. ReadOn!
Imagine if whatever you drew came to life.
Just like with the Shaka Laka Boom Boom Pencil!
What if we tell you this tech actually exists?
Yes, it's called 3D Printing.
And it could change the world as we know it. How? ReadOn!
🤓 What is 3D Printing?
3D Printing is exactly what it sounds like: printing real-life objects using a fancy printer.
Instead of paper and ink, this fancy printer uses molten metals or plastic to create objects layer by layer:
The fancy industry is currently worth $17.4 Bn and is expected to grow at a 17% CAGR!
And countries are jumping in to capitalise on this opportunity. India, the Netherlands and the US have even printed actual houses!
India's first 3D printed house was created in 2018, by a startup called Tvasta.
And we haven't stopped since then:
L&T built a 3D-printed two-story building.
The Indian Army’s Military Engineering Services (MES) constructed two houses using 3D manufacturing in Gandhinagar.
Bangalore has the country's first 3D-printed post office.
Companies like Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, and Reliance have also made major investments in 3D printing.
But what makes 3D printing so lucrative? Is it just a super fancy dream-come-true tech or does it drive any economic value?
⚡ Pros of 3D Printing
Increased Efficiency: India's second 3D printed house (600-square feet) took just 5 days to make. Compare this with the typical 5-6 months needed to build a decent house!
Manufacturing Cost Reduction: 3D manufacturing reduces the need for extra labour, tools, and inventory storage. This reduces costs to about 30%!
Increased Sustainability: 3D Printing massively reduces waste (as high as 95% in the construction industry)! How? By using a technique called 'Additive Manufacturing': instead of taking a larger piece of wood and cutting it down to the required shape, you can simply add the right amount of materials layer by layer.Also, since the work is done by machines, the room for error is almost close to zero, saving time and effort.
🏡 3D Printing Beyond Houses
3D Printing can basically print anything. Anything.
From fuel nozzles to vintage car parts, to entire rockets that could take us to space!
And we have also started exploring its benefits on the human body: some startups are printing customised pacemakers, affordable and lighter prosthetic limbs and even organs with the help of 3D printers.
An Indian startup Pandorum Technologies has managed to 3D print liver tissue in the lab.
So, 3D printing could essentially (technically) print a better world.
But interestingly, this tech has existed since the 1970s. Why hasn't it gained more popularity and become mainstream?
👀 Problems with 3D Printing
3D Printing wasn't built for manufacturing. It was built to make quick prototypes that could help companies understand their products and improve them.
We've ultimately realised that this industry holds a lot of promise than just prototyping. But unleashing its true potential comes with many challenges.
High Set-Up Costs: Setting up one or two printers for prototyping was easy. But setting up a whole system that can print at scale requires a lot of capital expenditure, which many companies and brands cannot afford.
Not Fast Enough: 3D printing can cut down time in industries like construction that depend on manual labour. But when it comes to full-scale manufacturing, it is pretty slow. For instance, a Lego factory manufactures 36,000 Legos per minute. On the other hand it takes 4 minutes to 3D print one Lego!
Lack of Tech and Skills: 3D printing at scale requires a lot of tech innovation and design skills. Existing product designs may not be best suited for 3D printing, so designers need to come up with more efficient models. Plus, special software is needed to manage a whole fleet of 3D printers and to connect them to the company's existing software.
Now the question is how can we overcome these challenges and unlock this tech's true potential?
🇮🇳 India's 3D Printing Play
India has launched a National Strategy for Additive Manufacturing to promote 3D Printing.
This strategy aims to create "50 India specific technologies, 100 new startups, 500 products, 10 existing and new manufacturing sectors and One lakh new skilled manpower."
If we can actually achieve all of this, we could:
Become exporters of 3D Printing related tech and design services.
Grow our infrastructure super quickly.
💡 ReadOn Insight: 3D printing could change the dynamics of the construction industry, bringing more focus on house design than the actual construction. So, if India creates more design experts, we could significantly increase our export bills by exporting our services!
But that day looks far away.
Currently:
India accounts for only 1.4% of the global spending, while the US accounts for 36%.
India imports 80-85% of 3D printing equipment.
To increase India's share in the global 3D printing industry to 5% in the next three years, just a strategy won't be enough. The government needs to:
Increase spending to boost research and development.
Reduce dependency by developing domestic skill and technology.
Incentivise global startups to set up 3D printing plants and factories in India.
Hope the government announces something interesting for this space in Budget 2023.
Until next time, ReadOn.
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