By Steve Jordan
According to a recent market research report by Markets and Markets, the 3D printing market is expected to be worth US$ 32.78 Billion by 2023 – that’s an annual growth of 25.76% between 2017 and 2023. The growth is attributed to factors such as the ease of development of customized products, the ability to reduce overall manufacturing costs, and government investments in the 3D printing projects for the development and deployment of the technology. The market for the desktop segment is predicted to grow even faster.
3D printing has started penetrating into new markets such as electronics, biomedical, pharmaceuticals, food, education and construction. How long will it be before consumer and household goods are included in this list?
The moving industry, like all others, is in continual change. One constant, however, has always been the adage that ‘you can’t get a computer to move the boxes’. That might be true, but what if there is no need to move things anyway? What happens when people don’t move their furniture, china, kitchen stuff or clothes, they just print new whenever they need it?
It might not be a threat for the current generation of movers, but in 20 years’ time? What then? 3D printing could be the greatest threat the household moving industry has faced in its history. Ten years ago it would have been hard to imagine the world as it is today. The pace of change is accelerating, as it always has. Life for us in 20 years is, now, impossible to predict or even imagine.