Additive Manufacturing.

3-D Printing machines are competitive with conventional manufacturing;can produce complex, high-performance structures; and can easily switch from making one item to making another. So versatile. Organisations should consider new business models and strategies to exploit the opportunities and defend themselves against rivals that use 3-D printing.

This technology provides an unprecedented ability to customize products and respond quickly to shifts in market demand. (This is such an amazing value proposition and isolating mechanism in an IFE matrix). From a strategic perspective this all means that additive manufacturing is becoming a full-fledged competitive weapon: it can be used to hold on to market leadership, to dethrone a dominant player , or to diversify by merely exploiting a printer's capability to make products for different industries. Consequently, leaders need to understand additives' range and potential and the possibilities that will open up in the near future.

These new machines put out products much faster and at lower cost, and the items that emerge from them require less finish work that they did with earlier 3-D printers.

Prof Rory Dunn.