docs/03_module-2-why-is-it-revolutionary/03_the-3d-printing-revolution-facts-concepts/02_how-will-3d-printing-change-business.en.txt

[MUSIC] Now let's take a look at how 3D
printing will change business. As we just discussed, 3D printing
is a revolutionary technology that has several advantages over
traditional manufacturing. Due to these advantages,
we believe that 3D printing will fundamentally change
business as we know it. A good way to think about
the potential impact of 3D printing is to visualize the digital
music revolution. When I was in college, a long time ago, music was a physical good,
on CDs such as this. Now this physical CD was usually created
by a large recording company and purchased at a physical store. However, the computer turned this
physical good into a digital file, that can be created by just about anyone
with access to digital editing tools, and easily downloaded for
less than a dollar. 3D printing will have a similar impact, on
a variety of traditional, physical goods. With this new technology, nearly any
product can be digitized and downloaded. So objects will become things
delivered on your desktop. This changes everything. For example, with 3D printing you
can now download replacement parts rather than having to order
them from the manufacturer. So manufacturers no longer have to
keep these parts in inventory and logistics companies, like UPS,
no longer have to physically ship them. In addition, if a part doesn't fit, a
customer will be easily able to modify it. So we are now able to remix objects
just as easily as we remix music. So 3D printing has the potential to
change both the nature of objects as well as the role of consumers. In essence, 3D printing turns objects into
downloads and consumers into creators. This is a fundamental shift compared to how traditional
objects are made and distributed. So let's take a closer look at each
of these two important changes. First of all, objects are becoming
downloads and the ability to download objects is a revolutionary change in
how physical goods are delivered. Typically, the place where
an object is made is far away from where it's actually used. For example, most of the things that I use
here in Champaign Illinois are made far away in China. So they have to be physically
shipped over long distances, which takes both time and money. 3D printing changes this equation by
allowing objects to be downloaded just as easily as we now download a song. So objects are just a click away and
distance is no longer a barrier. A nice example, is this wrench. This wrench was printed by an astronaut
living on the international space station. So it's certainly much easier and
faster and cheaper than having to physically
ship this wrench from earth to space. Like we used to have to do. The second thing that it changes is us,
the role of consumers. With 3D printing consumers
become creators. If you're like me, most of the things
that you own were bought in a store and made by a big company. As a result,
we typically don't have the skills or the tools to make the things we need. So we're largely consumers and
not creators. 3D printing changes this
by making it quite easy for any of us to make the things we need. This is a revolutionary concept and makes
us less dependant upon big companies. So we are now able to create products
that no company would ever make. Let me give you an example,
I'm holding in my hand a 20 sided dice. If you are like me and played Dungeon's
and Dragons in high school or if you now play, you know what this is. It's simply a dice with 20 sides, and
each side has a number from 1 to 20.. And this is rolled and
has important part of the game. Now if you look closely at this dice, what you'll see that in
addition having numbers. It also has braille, so it has both
visual numbers and braille numbers. Now, no company would probably
create a braille 20 sided dice. Because the number of blind Dungeons and
Dragons players is probably quite small, in order to be economical, there's no economies of scale
to produce something like this. So this dice was produced by an individual
who was playing Dungeons and Dragons and had a blind friend
who also wanted to play. And so he simply took this dice, remixed
it by putting some braille on it and uploaded on Thingiverse. So this dice is a great example
of how consumers empowered with 3D printing technology can create
objects that no firm would ever make. If you take the rest of the specialization
you'll learn how to be empowered as a consumer creator yourself [MUSIC] [SOUND]