Are we ready for 3D printing?
A recent poll carried out by the Design Museum and Ipsos MORI, conducted by interviewing 994 people across the UK, found that 66% of people would rather leave design to the professionals and would in fact avoid the opportunity to customise or 3D their own products. The survey also shows that nearly three-quarters (71 per cent) of people know very little or nothing about 3D printers, and only 6 per cent of people say they are interested in owning a 3D printer.
We find this surprising as although they are not widely available on the high street, 3D printers have been available online since 2009. In addition the hype surrounding 3D printing has been growing over the last few months, with skills and techniques including 3D printing, becoming part of design and technology teaching in the National Curriculum from 2014.
In terms of using 3D printers, 35% of participants said it was a good thing that people will be able to make everyday objects and spare parts at home, but an almost equal number (32%) were concerned about people 3D printing guns and knives. Which we think is understandable.
The challenge for new industries isn’t about encouraging people to buy, it’s about changing how they think. 3D printers are a new kind of product and we think it is early days to declare them a conventional high street norm. For home use, shopping habits die hard, which explains why downloadable entertainment services like iTunes and Spotify sell physical gift vouchers in supermarkets.
However, we think the business world is ready for 3D printers especially for the type of business we work with. Imagine architects being able to easily build models of their designs or our engineers being able to create a part to fix a scanner on the spot. It just makes sense!