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Challenges in
Printing Industry
he advent of 3D printing is nothing less than a a. Equipment and Material Cost
revolution in the manufacturing industry. You 3D printing technology is still evolving hence the
Tmust have read about advances in 3D printing equipment and material costs are high. Most good
and its many advantages. But have you seen or used a quality 3D printers and the raw materials need to be
product which is 3D printed? Or do you know anyone imported from Western countries. Higher pricing
who has used or seen such a product? The challenge in structures for 3D printers/materials in India makes
the 3D Printing Industry is what we are going to look the entry point more expensive compared to other
into in this article. manufacturing technologies such as CNC machining,
Answer to this question from the majority of us in injection molding etc. India is a price sensitive market,
India would be “NO”. Have you ever thought why 3D if the cost of 3D printing a product is high compared
printing is not common yet or what are the challenges to other options, customers will go for the next best
in the widespread adoption of 3D printing in India? In option available. The higher price might be justified in
this article, we will learn about different types of 3D Western countries due to the high cost of manpower
printing technologies and will analyze the challenges but same price structure won’t work in the Indian
faced by the industry. market.
Types of 3D Printing Technology To overcome this important barrier, 3D printing
For a layman, 3D printing is more of a buzzword industry in India must invest in building the machines
where a product can be designed and printed just like and the raw material in India and find ways to reduce
2D printing on a piece of paper. 3D printing takes the overall cost of 3D printing.
a design file and raw material inputs and works by
building a product layer by layer hence it is also called b. Lack of Formal Standards
“additive manufacturing.” It can produce a nearly As 3D printing is still in the initial stages of
finished part in a matter of hours. development, there is a lack of formal standards in the
Currently, there are five 3D printing technologies industry. In June 2018, ASTM International, formerly
commercially available: known as American Society for Testing and Materials,
released a set of standards detailing best practices for
• Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) or Fused metal powder bed fusion processes to ensure quality
Filament Fabrication (FFF) for critical applications such as aerospace and medical
• Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) industry but these are very limited and narrow in
• Stereolithography (SLA) scope. A lot more work is needed in this direction
because lack of standards in 3D printing is seriously
• Selective Laser Melting (SLM) hampering its adoption. Standardization will ensure
• Electron Beam Melting (EBM) consistency and quality for products created using 3D
Printing which will encourage its adoption.
Each of these technologies has been designed for
specific applications and material; the most commonly c. Lack of Ecosystem
used are FDM, SLS, and SLA. In India, there are very few providers for 3D printing
services. These providers are mostly stand-alone
Challenges in 3D Printing shops, many of them do not have a strong online
presence, some might be provided just one of the 3D
