EFFECTS OF 3D PRINTING ON THE WORLD’S LABOUR FORCES

An excellent article entitled “OF LABOUR, UNIONS AND 3D PRINTING - The impact of 3D printing on employment” by the Arbitrage magazine in May of last year, highlights some very interesting areas of discussion, citing “With employment figures still rebounding from post-recession levels, an unlikely new issue has entered the labour debate. Conventional manufacturing uses human labour to chisel raw material down into specific shapes or moulds. And according to the technology entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa, that is an inefficient process.

He told Forbes last year: “The more complex the product you want to create, the more labour is required and the greater the effort” — all of which translates into higher costs. The process of 3D printing flips that convention. Instead of subtracting layers of material from raw input, 3D printing constructs an object from scratch by adding successive layers of thin raw material until the desired shape is achieved. #is means there is no waste by-product and no additional cost to the complexity of an item. Manufacturing with 3D printing can also be cheaper and less time-consuming. This is especially so when the process is employed for one-off projects such as prototypes or experiments with complex geometries. The technology even makes possible the manufacturing of objects which, by traditional means, used to be impossible. These include, among others, complex objects like skeletal structures, human tissue and organs and even the theoretically-impossible Penrose triangle. In January, the Associated Press (AP) reported that “almost all the jobs disappearing are in industries that pay middle-class wages.” The reason for this disappearance: “Those jobs are being replaced...by machines and software that can do the same work better and cheaper.” (ECONOLYST, 2013)

So, do these types of statements point to a brighter future or dimmer future for our work forces that purely depend on a steady income to meet the mortgage, rent or simple food on the table?

A blog on the madameeureka.wordpress.com says that 3D printing practices and changes should actually be encouraged and accepted, saying “The removal of part of the supply chain and human economic activity in producing goods could potentially lead to the destruction of manufacturing industry. This affects not just the direct participants in this industry but also the service sectors that support it. the production of manufacturing tooling could go the same way as magnetic tapes and paper drawings.” as online companies can start-up quickly and easily because they are not inhibited by complicated and costly manufacturing processes. Therefore it is essential that this technology is welcomed and developed in a positive light in order to drive economic change and keep the UK economy at the forefront of innovation, through mobility of up to 38.8% of labour. This allows businesses to thrive in the future having been built on a platform that embraces change. Societal impact of this has to be reduced as much as possible and gradual in order to gain public support, however there is trade-off between the speed of diffusion of the innovation and the mobility of labour away from the declining industries if the 3D printing diffuses.” (MADAMEEUREKA, 2013)

Economic Benefits as outlined by MADAME EUREKA:

ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF 3D PRINTING - IMAGE TAKEN FROM MADAMEEUREKA 2013, 24^h FEB 2014

 

Vivek Wadhwa from the Arbitrate Magazine continues: “The process of 3D printing undoubtedly threatens low-wage jobs both at home and overseas, but it also has the potential to complicate higher-value roles. For example, an inventory manager will be required to have quite different skills and prerequisites based on whether he’s applying for work at a traditional manufacturing firm or at a firm using 3D printing. This inherent threat, along with the recent attention given to 3D printing in the press, may be a signal for labour groups to begin mobilizing a defence.” (ECONOLYST, 2013)

The European Commission has had to sit up and take notice of the impact of 3D Printing and in a recent publication entitled "DIGITAL AGENDA FOR EUROPE" Futurium, the EU outlines the impacts of 3D Printing on the Europe as a whole, as a disruptive technology.

The EU states that “A disruptive revolution, 3D printing will generate a number of challenges for policy makers, for instance:

 

·       The natural instinct of governments is to protect existing industries rather than supporting the agents of change that would destroy them. The ability to rapidly identify the disruptive nature of that revolution and to steer the change in a direction which meets the interest of citizens and businesses will make the difference.

·       3D printing technology, like any other high-tech industry, is very competitive, and the international race for the emergence of global 3D printer champions will be fierce. Already, the biggest 3D printer, 12 meters long, is in China. Industrial and research policies, including in the area of IPR, patents and standards, will have to respond to that challenge.

·       3D printing will render a number of jobs obsolete and will require new skills. Many new jobs will be created outside the plant: IT experts, designers, engineers, logistics experts, marketing professionals etc. Education systems and labour markets will have to respond to these needs.

·       Like any other industry, bottlenecks are likely to emerge, in particular at the level of the new materials which will be required to print increasingly complex goods, including nanotechnologies and genetically engineered bio-materials.

·       Intellectual property for 3D design of products but also personal data for the customization of goods will become even more critical assets, challenging the existing regional and global regulatory systems in place.” (EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2013)

 

Joe McKendrick, from SmartPlanet blog, that discusses a report on 3D Printing by transportintelligence.com, believes that the new technologies and rapid advancements of 3D Printing could make global supply chains (and in turn the employees) redundant in the near future.

 

“The report states that 3D printing ‘is already very good at producing products (even with moving parts) which previously would have required the assembly of multiple components,’ and that by ‘eliminating the assembly phase there will be huge savings for the manufacturer in terms of labour costs.’ 3D printing-based production could also reduce or eliminate storage, handling and distribution costs. Eventually, products may even be produced right in consumers' homes, reducing what was a series of supply-chain interactions to a software-based transaction.” (MCKENDRICK, 2012)

 

MOVING THE GOODS OF THE WORLD - IMAGE TAKEN FROM MCKENDRICK 2012, 21st FEB 2014

 

ARBITRAGE states that “The global manufacturing industry is now beginning to address and wrestle with the disruptive potential of 3D printing. But it’s impossible to pinpoint the precise moment when it began to turn mainstream — or at least more affordable to the general public.

 

On the supply side, costs of 3D printers — both consumer and industrial — have dropped to more affordable levels. On the demand side, there have been numerous changes in the global economy over the past decades that have given companies reasons to reconsider the technology.

 

For one, labour costs are consistently rising even in low-wage countries like China. The global recession, moreover, has inspired a political pressure on companies to create jobs locally.” (ARBITRAGE, 2013)

 

With the 2 largest world economies currently fighting it out for world domination, Forbes Magazine are even declaring “The End of Chinese Manufacturing and Rebirth of U.S. Industry”, all down to rising wages and US advancements on areas such as 3D Printing.

 

“By offering subsidies, cheap labour, and lax regulations and rigging its currency, China was able to seduce American companies to relocate their manufacturing operations there. Millions of American jobs moved to China, and manufacturing became the underpinning of China’s growth and prosperity. But rising labour costs, concerns over government-sponsored I.P. theft, and production time lags are already causing companies such as Dow Chemicals, Caterpillar, GE, and Ford to start moving some manufacturing back to the U.S. from China. Google recently announced that its Nexus Q streaming media player would be made in the U.S., and this put pressure on Apple to start following suit.

 

But rising costs and political pressure aren’t what’s going to rapidly change the equation. The disruption will come from a set of technologies that are advancing at exponential rates and converging.

 

These technologies include robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, and nanotechnology. These have been moving slowly so far, but are now beginning to advance exponentially just as computing does.  Witness how computing has advanced to the point at which the smart phones we carry in our pockets have more processing power than the super computers of the ’60s—and how the Internet, which also has its origins in the ’60s, went on an exponential growth path about 15 years ago and rapidly changed the way we work, shop, and communicate.  That’s what lies ahead for these new technologies.” (FORBES, 2012)

 

But will of the work that government agencies, such as Enterprise Ireland and FÁS, all be in pain? Only time will tell if 3D Printing creates or destroys jobs for the ordinary worker…

 

ARBITRAGE 2013;

"The Economic Impacts of 3D Printing", madameeureka.wordpress.com 2013. Retrieved: 20th Feb. 2013 from; http://www.arbitragemagazine.com/technology-2/on-labour-unions-and-3d-printing/

ECONOLYST 2013;

"OF LABOUR, UNIONS AND 3D PRINTING - The impact of 3D printing on employment", econolyst.co.uk 2013. Retrieved: 20th Feb. 2013 from; http://www.econolyst.co.uk/resources/documents/files/Article%20-%20May%202013%20-%20Arbitrage%20magazine%20-%20The%20impact%20of%203D%20printing%20on%20enployment.pdf

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 2013;

"DIGITAL AGENDA FOR EUROPE", ec.europa.eu 2013. Retrieved: 20th Feb. 2013 from; https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/futurium/en/content/3d-printing

FORBES 2012;

"The End of Chinese Manufacturing and Rebirth of U.S. Industry", forbes.com 23^rd July 2013. Retrieved: 22nd Feb. 2013 from; http://www.forbes.com/sites/singularity/2012/07/23/the-end-of-chinese-manufacturing-and-rebirth-of-u-s-industry/

MADAMEEUREKA 2013;

"The Economic Impacts of 3D Printing", madameeureka.wordpress.com 2013. Retrieved: 24th Feb. 2013 from; http://madameeureka.wordpress.com/the-economic-impacts-of-3d-printing/

MCKENDRICK 2012;

"3D printing may put global supply chains out of business: report", Joe McKendrick, smartplanet.com Oct 9^th 2012. Retrieved: 21st Feb. 2013 from; http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/3d-printing-may-put-global-supply-chains-out-of-business-report/2019

Possible impacts of widespread 3D printing on education and global wealth distribution

As 3D printing grows as a market and online 3D design marketplaces are being created, we must consider the possible impacts of 3D printing on the global scale, on life standards, wealth distribution and education.

Were 3D printing to become the new means of producing from everyday goods like bottles to large construction works like houses, it would have a large impact on a global scale. But what shape would this impact take?

How would it affect the opportunities of people and communities, the economies of countries or the life standards of people? Could under-developed countries really benefit from this technology when water and electricity is not yet accessible in many rural communities?

On the one hand, some might argue that only educated, highly trained and specialised individuals will be able to work on the manufacture of 3D printers and design 3D product blueprints. This would therefore be reinforcing the gap in knowledge and education between developed countries with high rates of literacy, high university attendance and a large technically skilled workforce, and low literacy under-developed countries.

On the other hand though, some examples in our recent past may be a hint that the opposite could happen. New demand for skilled labour would be responded to by the education of and outsourcing to overseas workforces, as has happened with IT in India since the rise of the Internet.

Other historical evolutions of civilisations support this view. There are several instances in history where cultures have only managed to evolve once their basic needs for survival had been met, thus giving people the opportunity to utilise their time for other things. 
Could the 3D printer be a way to meet basic material needs more effectively and thus enable under-developed countries to grow faster? 
Historically, the areas with better agricultural environments, milder climates and easily available resources were the first in which early civilisations emerged. 
Had Egypt not had fertile land because of the Nile, the population would most likely not have had time to start building and organising the roots of a large civilisation and empire. Had Greece not known a mild, fertile climate, more time, resource and people would have been required to insure survival and less time would have been readily available for the emergence of the rich cultural, social and scientific environment that shaped the world today.

Taking this thought further, if goods and designs were available anywhere in the world without discrimination, with only basic raw materials needed, some of the inequity in wealth distribution might be countered.The value of a product would not, then, depend on its physical reality but on the underlying design or digital presence. The world might move away from the materialistic approach to goods that is strongly ingrained in the way trade and commerce operate and move to an even more digital way of doing business. Shipment would no longer be a problem, as, as long as the base material is locally available, any product could be printed instantly anywhere.

But this is also the main argument against this view, which supposes that raw material can be found or bought with ease anywhere. The availability of a plethora of materials would be required to ensure that a range of products may be printed, which would constitute a barrier to entry of the 3D printer to already poorer communities that - were a 3D printer cheap enough for them to acquire it - may not be able to supply the necessary materials to benefit of this new technology.

An example of this would be the humanitarian aids providing local communities with powdered milk, aiming to provide short-term nutrition for babies and small children. What the humanitarian organisations often failed to identify is that clean water (or any water at all) is frequently unavailable which then leads to more illnesses and higher infant mortality in the targetted communities.

Applying similar thinking to 3D printing, we need to think about the resources that would need to be available locally for the printer of objects or food to have a real impact. To the contrary of purely virtual goods like ebooks or music files, the products printed from a 3D printer would still be physical products and therefore fail to address the shortages in goods that already stem from the shortage of raw materials.

Additionally, some see 3D printing as a way of reviving local manufacturing and design companies. But even though the expansion of the 3D printer might help small or medium design enterprises, the need for such companies might stay a niche market as 3D printing hits the global mass market and market leaders in good design impose themselves. An example of a similar situation at present is that of the smartphone app stores: what was seen as the opportunity for small developer groups to expand has become a market let by larger game and app design companies, and very few high earning app designers.

Finally, 3D printing design blueprints are currently almost exclusively accessible through online marketplaces, which would once again privilege more developed areas that have access to electricity, computers and the internet around the clock.

It is therefore hard to tell at this stage what the impact of 3D printing will have socially, both at a wealth distribution and at an education level.

An introduction to 3D printing

Here is a video by PBS about 3D printing and how it is starting to revolutionise customer behaviours.
It also discusses possible applications in science and medicine. 3D printed organs would for example solve many of the organ shortage and transplant problems and 3D printed aids could be directly customised to patients onsite.

Source: PBS YouTube Channel

From 3D printing pens to industrial size 3D printers, 3D printers already come in many shapes and sizes today. Some additional materials are being added to newer printers, some even print sugar or fabric: there are many customisations possible on this one product.

The adoption of 3D printers in households and the introduction of this way of customising the highly standardised manufacturing industry would drastically expand the competition in many industries that compete on price and design.

Food for thought, is 3D Food printing the answer?

There is an intensifying world food shortage problem in many areas around the globe, with the economy of the world in havoc. Experts believe that this could easily cause a situation where world food shortages become a widespread global issue. World grain reserves are so dangerously low that severe weather in the United States or other food-exporting countries could trigger a major hunger crisis next year, the United Nations has warned.

Failing harvests in the US, Ukraine and other countries this year have eroded reserves to their lowest level since 1974. The US, which has experienced record heat waves and droughts in 2012, now holds in reserve a historically low 6.5% of the maize that it expects to consume in the next year, warns the UN.

A few reasons for this worrying trend…

1.       There has been a dramatic increase in food prices around the globe for stable foods such as maize, lentils, flour, and oil. These basic foods are the substance that many families around the world live on from day to day. When the costs of these essential foods rise, it dramatically affects those relying on them. For example, what used to take a day’s wage to buy may now take three weeks wages to purchase...

2.     The price of rice over the past 20 years has risen substantially and has caused a shortage of rice in many parts of Asia.

3.      Many farmers in some Asian countries such as the Philippines are no longer growing rice because they have found more profitable crops to grow in their fields.

4.       Extreme drought has also prevented some rice crops from growing well.

Where is a World Food Shortage Going on Right Now?

The World Food Shortage is documented to be in certain parts of India, China, the Horn of Africa and many other African nations, and many South Asian countries all suffer from food shortages. There are many other areas that are affected; however, these are just some of the more prominent ones at the moment. It is estimated that within the next 5 - 10 years, world food shortages will become more widespread.

Environmental Reasons for World Food Shortage

Countries like Bangladesh are “particularly prone to food shortages due to the constant flooding the country experiences regularly. Their particular geographic location is not suitable for growing crops. Natural disasters like flooding wipe out crops and diminish the food supply” (ARDA, 2013)

"We've not been producing as much as we are consuming. That is why stocks are being run down. Supplies are now very tight across the world and reserves are at a very low level, leaving no room for unexpected events next year" said Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). With food consumption exceeding the amount grown for six of the past 11 years, countries have run down reserves from an average of 107 days of consumption 10 years ago to under 74 days recently. 870 million people in the Middle East and Africa are reported to be malnourished and this numbers is growing at an alarming rate.

This year, for the sixth time in 11 years, the world will consume more food than it produces, largely because of extreme weather in the US and other major food-exporting countries. Oxfam last week said that the price of key staples, including wheat and rice, may double in the next 20 years, threatening disastrous consequences for poor people who spend a large proportion of their income on food.

A World in need of food (IMAGE FROM PLANET THOUGHTS 2013)

Lester Brown, president of the Earth policy research Centre in Washington says "We are entering a new era of rising food prices and spreading hunger. Food supplies are tightening everywhere and land is becoming the most sought-after commodity as the world shifts from an age of food abundance to one of scarcity," says Brown. "The geopolitics of food is fast overshadowing the geopolitics of oil. Armed aggression is no longer the principal threat to our future. The overriding threats to this century are climate change, population growth, spreading water shortages and rising food prices" Brown says (GUARDIAN, 2013)

Food Security Risks Index 2013 (IMAGE FROM: AFRICA JOURNALISMTHEWORLD.COM, 2013)

 

What is being done by world governments?

“Shortly after saying they were “deeply concerned” about soaring global food prices and supply shortages, world leaders attending the G8 summit in Hokkaido sat down to an eighteen-course gastronomic extravaganza, courtesy of the Japanese government” states food independence and real democracy with bestselling author, Frances Moore Lappé. (LAPPÉ, 2008) Lappé points to the following video as he states that this situation is TOTALLY AVOIDABLE…

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/9/as_global_food_crisis_tops_g8

Is there an answer for resolution? Maybe 3D Printing…

3D printing devices are already being used to make all sorts of components - but none of them edible. Now a company has unveiled its first food-safe printers, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Two versions will soon be available - allowing the casual confectioner or the seasoned pro to make their own sweet creations. 3D Systems' Liz Von Hasseln says the printers use technology similar to that in traditional computer printers. "They're the first food-safe 3D printers to be offered, which is really exciting" she says.

These food-safe printers are called the ChefJet and the Chef JetPro. The ChefJet is a monochrome counter top version that can print in chocolate and sugar and candy in a variety of different flavours. Ms Von Hasseln explains the technology inside the printer: "This is colour jet printing technology which means that it uses an ink jet print head. So basically it spreads a very fine layer of sugar and it uses an inkjet print head that's just like the one that you would find in your desktop 2D printer to paint water onto the surface of the sugar, and that water allows the sugar to recrystallize and harden and it forms these complex geometries."

Creating such complex geometric shapes takes some skill, especially when it comes to designing in Computer Aided Design, or "CAD" software. 3D Systems is helping to ease that transition by providing specialist software.

"We're offering what we call the Digital Cookbook with both of these printers and that's designed for the non-CAD user," says Von Hasseln. "So you might say, 'I want to work on a cake topper or I want to work on a drink sweetener' and the software will start you out with an object that's kind of the appropriate size and shape and you can add complexity from there. So you can generate really complex items that are printable without actually having to model them."

The ChefJet and the Chef JetPro are expected to cost between £3000 and £6000 when they go on sale. (TELEGRAPH, 2014)

Chief executive Avi Reichental believes the smaller of the two printers could be used by restaurants and bakeries (IMAGE FROM BBC, 2014)

So, if the technology is being worked on to make (maybe even burn food like humansJ), can the emergence of 3D printing help solve a world epidemic of a food shortage? Will governments pay for these printers and would the printers be able to keep up with demand of the world’s basic menu that decides if a person lives or dies? As the technology advances, so will the questions raised…

Watch this 3D printer make pizza fit for astronauts!!!

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/24/5342180/watch-this-3d-printer-make-pizza-fit-for-astronauts

REFERENCES:
AFRICA JOURNALISM THE WORLD 2013;

"Africa – News and Analysis Blog", africajournalismtheworld.com 2013. Retrieved: 15th Feb. 2013 from; http://africajournalismtheworld.com/tag/africa-food-security-index/

ARDA 2013;

"The Growing World Food Shortage", adra.org 2013. Retrieved: 15th Feb. 2013 from; http://www.adra.org/world-food-shortage.htm

BBC 2014;

"CES 2014: 3D food printers create sweets and chocolates", bbc.co.uk 2014. Retrieved: 15th Feb. 2013 from; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25647918

GUARDIAN 2013;

"UN warns of looming worldwide food crisis in 2013", theguardian.com, 2013. Retrieved: 15th Feb. 2013 from; http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/oct/14/un-global-food-crisis-warning

LAPPÉ 2008;

"As Global Food Crisis Tops G8 Summit Agenda, World Leaders Enjoy Lavish 18-Course Banquet", democracynow.org, July 9^th, 2008. Retrieved: 15th Feb. 2013 from; http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/9/as_global_food_crisis_tops_g8

PLANET THOUGHTS 2013;

"Hunger and World Food Shortage", planetthoughts.org, 2013. Retrieved: 15th Feb. 2013 from; http://www.planetthoughts.org/userfiles/image/2008/Jul/Hunger-and-World-Food-Shortage.jpg

TELEGRAPH 2014;

"CES: First 3D printer to make food revealed", telegraph.co.uk, 15^th Feb 2014. Retrieved: 15th Feb. 2014 from; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/ces/10560755/CES-First-3D-printer-to-make-food-revealed.html

3D printing to help the environment: the first 3D printed coral reef!

 

(Source: http://ptacnik.com/coralprint00.gif)

In the Persian Gulf, the first 3D printed coral has been put in place to replace destroyed wildlife whose disappearance was negatively impacting the coral reef as a whole. With this new base, the coral will be able to start regenerating. 

The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences and other research bodies in Australia are interested researching this method more in depth to see if it could be applied on Australian shores.
This is seen as an important application of 3D printing that the Australian coral reefs could benefit from, as global warming starts to take its toll on the Australian coral reefs.
More specifically the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, one of largest in the world, is suffering greatly from pollution and warmer conditions.
The ecosystem there is threatened by the death and disappearance of large parts of the coral, in which many endangered or vulnerable species live.

Introducing 3D printed coral could slow down the disappearance of the coral and give the local species more time to adapt to the changes in the environment, and maybe, in the long term, enable the reconstruction of natural coral and renewed growth of the coral reef.

More information on the current project can be found at Forbes.com
Source: Forbes, 2013.10.21, "3d Printed Reef Restores Marine life in the Persian Gulf"