3D printing is not necessarily new technology, as it was introduced in 1983. Yet, it has developed rapidly in recent years. It is now more affordable for businesses and allows making many processes faster, safer, and more sustainable. It includes hardware, software, and materials for production, as well as hiring IT contractors to provide modeling and maintenance.
3D printing impacts many aspects of our lives, starting with construction and up to medicine. It allows for producing many things and types of products. It can be a small simple prototype or a highly technical part of an airplane. Mostly, it is already altering the building and manufacturing industries.
3D printing is also vitally helpful for medical causes as it can create artificial human organs for transplantation. Such innovation can change the quality and longevity of people’s lives.
Therefore more startups and companies integrate this technology into their scope of work. They upgrade projects, buy hardware, software and find IT contractors. It is understandable as 3D printing can combine production and construction with sustainable development.
3D Printing In Construction And Sustainable Development
The principles of sustainable development include a wide variety of aspects. It allows human evolution and development in all aspects of life and science with sustaining natural resources and ecosystems. The main idea is to create and maintain a better world for future generations with a maximal reduction of damage to the planet.
As for now, there are 17 goals of sustainable development and 3D printing can help with several of them:
- Sustainable cities and communities. 3D printing allows the fast and effective construction of new housing. It can help solve the problem with affordable living for many people.
- Responsible consumption and production. This technology is also known as additive manufacturing as it creates a detail by layering material according to the digital model. It is more sustainable than traditional construction, where the detail is cut out of the sheet of material. There is a lot less waste and almost all material is used for its purpose. It is also possible to recycle plastic into the material for a 3D printer, which ensures the reduction of plastic pollution. It is logistically more efficient. There is no breakage during transportation of details or materials as they can be produced on the site. It also means less transportation in general and a decrease in transport-related pollution.
- Decent work and economic growth. The new technology provides new jobs and demand for professionals that can maintain it. To create projects and models that will be printed out, a company needs to hire IT contractors. This way additive manufacturing creates more employment options and better salaries for specialists.
- Climate action. There are many reasons why this new way of construction is eco-friendly. It reuses plastic, it produces minimum waste, and there is no manufacturing pollution, which comes from traditional factories. It is a greener construction
- Good health and well-being. The detail or product is created by layering, which reduces construction health risks. This innovation decreases the number of incidents when working with hard machinery on construction sites to a minimum.
By all means, additive manufacturing is going to change the world as we know it. It is a much more sustainable option for building and producing high-technology details and products. And it creates new positions and better salaries for IT contractors for hire and specialists involved in the development and maintenance of this technology.
Businesses That Successfully Integrated It
As this industry is in development now, many startups are appearing every year. 3D modeling and innovations require top IT contractors and professionals to work on making it easier, faster and more affordable. Here are several companies to look up to.
3Devo
This Dutch company released its device in 2017. It recycles everyday plastic waste into 3D printing granules. The idea is to reuse all plastic at home without any additional efforts. The device is called SHR3D and it is capable to shred up to 5 kg of plastic per hour.
Desktop Metal
It is a startup focused around metal additive manufacturing. This technology is slower and more expensive than plastic printing. Yet, it is completely necessary for construction and providing more sustainable and durable details. Company has introduced a printer suitable for office use and larger machines for industrial manufacturing.
nTopology
This company offers a new solution when it comes to additive manufacturing software. It is necessary to make processes faster. They’ve introduced platform Element that changes the means of 3D design and modeling. It uses LTCX format instead of the old-fashioned STL and provides lightweight and advanced manufacturing. After all, to create a great product one should not only find IT contractors but also provide them with the best environment for work.
In Summary
Additive manufacturing has already altered the idea of construction and all related processes. It makes building faster, easier and more eco-friendly. And, most importantly, it meets the goals of sustainable development in many aspects. It reduces waste and pollution, allows recycling on-site, and provides better logistics and fewer health risks for workers.
