最新的3D打印技術(shù)已經(jīng)縮短了設(shè)計(jì)師和工程師提出原型產(chǎn)品概念、制造原型產(chǎn)品和測(cè)試原型產(chǎn)品的時(shí)間。但3D打印技術(shù)要想在瞬息萬變的制造業(yè)中有所作為，就得讓企業(yè)不再只是把它當(dāng)成一項(xiàng)新奇的技術(shù)升級(jí)，還能夠?qū)⑺{入到日常的業(yè)務(wù)決策中。

這就是Stratasys Direct Manufacturing公司（簡(jiǎn)稱SDM）研究報(bào)告的結(jié)論。SDM是全球3D打印制造企業(yè)Stratasys旗下的服務(wù)部門，專門為那些可能需要3D打印的原型產(chǎn)品或零部件，但又缺乏專業(yè)3D打印設(shè)備和技術(shù)人員的制造公司提供先進(jìn)的制造和原型制作服務(wù)。

SDM公司的CEO喬?埃里森在《3D打印即將給制造業(yè)帶來的影響》一文中寫道：“今天，3D打印仍被看作一個(gè)技術(shù)解決方案，但未來的3D打印將是一個(gè)商業(yè)解決方案?！?/p>

這份未將SDM注明為贊助方的報(bào)告針對(duì)700名設(shè)計(jì)師、工程師和企業(yè)高管進(jìn)行了調(diào)查，其中近半數(shù)受訪者來自年收入5000萬美元以上的制造企業(yè)。這些受訪者來自航空、醫(yī)療、汽車和能源行業(yè)，他們的公司要么已經(jīng)采用先進(jìn)的制造工藝，要么打算在三年內(nèi)引進(jìn)3D打印或直接金屬激光燒結(jié)設(shè)備。（需要注意的是，下文提到的“增材制造”和“3D打印”指的是同一個(gè)概念。）

SDM聲稱增材打印技術(shù)將成為一個(gè)商業(yè)解決方案。這究竟有何含義？埃里森在該報(bào)告中寫道，未來三年，3D打印技術(shù)將進(jìn)入“終端生產(chǎn)”環(huán)節(jié)。

SDM公司的戰(zhàn)略、營(yíng)銷與業(yè)務(wù)開發(fā)高級(jí)副總裁吉姆?巴特爾指出：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)我們的客戶正在整個(gè)產(chǎn)品生命周期過程中利用這項(xiàng)技術(shù)?！卑吞貭枌?duì)《財(cái)富》表示，此次調(diào)查的受訪者們都希望在采購(gòu)3D打印設(shè)備和訓(xùn)練相關(guān)技術(shù)人員之后，能收到比較好的投資回報(bào)?！肮こ處熞呀?jīng)在用3D打印機(jī)生產(chǎn)一些很酷的零件了，但這樣做究竟有什么商業(yè)價(jià)值？”

也就是說，3D打印技術(shù)在制造企業(yè)中的下一個(gè)發(fā)展階段，將從原型產(chǎn)品的快速制造過渡到組裝生產(chǎn)線，屆時(shí)增材制造工藝將被用來制造量產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品的零部件。其實(shí)這在有些行業(yè)已經(jīng)發(fā)生了，Stratasys公司自身就和一些此類項(xiàng)目有直接聯(lián)系。比如，2014年11月，美國(guó)航空航天局的噴氣推進(jìn)實(shí)驗(yàn)室就在一顆飛往地外空間的衛(wèi)星上安裝了一些由Stratasys公司用3D打印技術(shù)生產(chǎn)的零部件。空客公司目前已經(jīng)開始利用Stratasys公司的量產(chǎn)級(jí)3D打印機(jī)，生產(chǎn)最新型空客A350 XWB客機(jī)的零部件。第一架飛機(jī)已經(jīng)于2014年12月交付，它上面有1000多個(gè)用3D打印技術(shù)制造的零部件。

艾利森在SDM公司的這篇報(bào)告的簡(jiǎn)介中寫道：“十年之內(nèi)，每架商用飛機(jī)上都將有3D打印的零部件?！?/p>

是的，3D打印技術(shù)將進(jìn)入終端零件，特別是金屬材料的生產(chǎn)環(huán)節(jié)。為了迎接這種變遷，很多企業(yè)正在構(gòu)建自己的3D打印技術(shù)力量，培訓(xùn)新員工，購(gòu)買更多的3D打印機(jī)。SDM的報(bào)告顯示，在700名受訪者中，有73%的受訪者表示，他們的企業(yè)打算提高3D打印零部件的內(nèi)部生產(chǎn)，這種趨勢(shì)在航空和醫(yī)療行業(yè)更為明顯。不過巴特爾也表示，隨著企業(yè)越來越多地使用增材制造技術(shù)生產(chǎn)終端產(chǎn)品，很多沒有足夠財(cái)力資源購(gòu)買設(shè)備和培訓(xùn)人員的企業(yè)將把這一環(huán)節(jié)外包出去。SDM的報(bào)告顯示，更多的企業(yè)計(jì)劃在短期內(nèi)將金屬材料的增材制造工藝環(huán)節(jié)進(jìn)行外包。

金屬的打印是一個(gè)關(guān)鍵。巴特爾表示，SDM公司的客戶，特別是航空和醫(yī)療領(lǐng)域的企業(yè)，都要求使用鋁、鈦等具有強(qiáng)度的輕質(zhì)金屬生產(chǎn)零部件。SDM的報(bào)告也指出，84%的受訪者都把金屬作為他們最希望能取得進(jìn)展的3D打印材料。根據(jù)SDM公司的預(yù)測(cè)，3D打印金屬的使用量將在未來三年里翻一番。

巴特爾表示：“如果你想打印出飛機(jī)的整個(gè)機(jī)翼，理論上也是能做到的?！?/p>

這份報(bào)告與全球3D打印與增材制造業(yè)最權(quán)威的《沃勒斯報(bào)告》得出了一些相同的結(jié)論。發(fā)布在Engineering.com上的《2015沃勒斯報(bào)告》中的一項(xiàng)分析表示：“在航空和醫(yī)療市場(chǎng)的一些高要求的生產(chǎn)應(yīng)用中，工業(yè)金屬增材制造系統(tǒng)的使用也增長(zhǎng)得非常迅猛。”《沃勒斯報(bào)告》顯示，增材制造服務(wù)和產(chǎn)品的市場(chǎng)規(guī)模在2014年增至41億美元。在未來幾年，這種增長(zhǎng)趨勢(shì)預(yù)計(jì)還將持續(xù)下去。

巴特爾表示：“人們一直將這項(xiàng)技術(shù)視為一種技術(shù)解決方案，但它已經(jīng)開始滿足客戶的商業(yè)需求了?！保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

審校：任文科

New 3D printing processes have reduced the time it takes for designers and engineers to conceptualize, create, and test prototypes. But for 3D printing to catch on the rapidly changing manufacturing industry, it will have to be seen by companies less as a fascinating technological upgrade and more as an everyday business decision.

That’s the conclusion from a report published in August by Stratasys Direct Manufacturing SSYS -6.01% , the service arm of the global 3D-printer manufacturing company Stratasys. SDM provides advanced manufacturing and prototyping services to manufacturing companies who might need a 3D-printed prototype or part, but lack the in-house equipment or staff expertise.

“Today 3D printing is still perceived as a technology solution, but the future of 3D printing is as a business solution,” wrote Joe Allison, CEO of SDM, in 3D Printing’s Imminent Impact on Manufacturing.

The report, which didn’t identify SDM as the sponsor, pulled together survey responses given by 700 designers, engineers, and business executives, nearly half of whom work for manufacturing companies that pull in more than $50 million in revenue a year. Respondents came from the aerospace, medical, automotive, and energy industries, and all of them work for companies that are already using advanced manufacturing processes or plan to introduce things like 3D printing or direct metal laser sintering within three years. (And just so we’re all on the same page: The terms additive manufacturing and 3D printing were used interchangeably in the report.)

So what, exactly, does SDM mean in saying that additive manufacturing’s future is as a business solution? As Allison writes in the report, the growth in 3D printing over the next three years will come in “end-use” production.

“What we’re seeing now, and what our customers are doing … is using this technology all the way through the product lifecycle process,” said Jim Bartel, senior vice president of strategy, marketing, and business development for SDM. In a call with Fortune, Bartel said that participants in the survey are looking for the return on investment after purchasing 3D printing equipment and training the staff to use it. “Engineers are creating cool parts off their printers, but what it comes to is: What’s the business value?” he said.

In other words, the next phase of 3D printing development within manufacturing companies will involve bringing 3D printing out of the realm of rapid prototyping and into the assembly line, where additive processes are used to make parts that end up on the final product. This is already happening in some industries, and Stratasys has a direction connection to some of this work. In November 2014, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory installed parts 3D printed by Stratasys onto one of its satellites bound for outer space. Airbus is using Stratasys’ production-grade printers to print flight parts for its new A350 XWB airplane; the first one of these planes delivered in December 2014 had more than 1,000 3D-printed parts installed in it.

“Within 10 years, every commercial airplane will have 3D printed parts on it,” wrote Allison in the introduction to SDM’s new report.

To prepare for this shift in 3D printing, one that will see more companies using additive manufacturing, especially with metals, to manufacture end-use parts, companies are staffing up, training new workers, and buying more 3D printing machines, SDM’s report shows that 73% of the 700 respondents to SDM’s survey said their companies plan to increase their in-house production of additively manufactured parts, a trend more pronounced in the aerospace and medical industries. But Bartel said that, as companies increasingly turn to additive processes to manufacture end-use products, more outsourcing will be done by companies without the financial resources to purchase the equipment and train the staff. SDM’s report shows that more companies are planning to outsource additive metal production over the near-term.

And printing in metals is key. According to Bartel, SDM’s customers, especially those in the aerospace and medical fields, are asking for and using aluminum and titanium, lightweight metals with considerable material strength. SDM’s report bears this out: At 84%, respondents ranked metals as the leader when it comes to which materials they’d like to see developed further for additive manufacturing in the future. SDM predicts additive metal use overall to double in the next three years.

“If you wanted to print a full airplane wing, you could theoretically do it,” Bartel said.

SDM’s findings fit with some of the conclusions from this year’s Wohlers Report, the definitive, industry report on what’s happening with 3D printing and additive manufacturing worldwide. According to an analysis of the 2015 Wohlers Report by Engineering.com, ”the use of industrial metal additive manufacturing systems for demanding production applications in the aerospace and medical markets also grew strongly.” Worldwide, the market for additive manufacturing services and products grew to $4.1 billion in 2014, according to the Wohlers Report. And more growth is expected in coming years.

“People really have been looking at this [additive] technology historically more as a technology solution,” said Bartel, “but it’s now meeting business needs for customers.”