????Shapeways公司是一家專門從事3D打印的公司，人們可以設(shè)計(jì)并利用Shapeways的高端3D打印機(jī)打印物品，比如打印一個(gè)自己設(shè)計(jì)的iPhone手機(jī)殼只需20美元。近期安德森?霍洛維茨基金領(lǐng)銜向該公司投資了3000萬美元。

????在離曼哈頓中城不遠(yuǎn)，坐地鐵很快就可以到達(dá)的地方，彼得?魏瑪豪森正在建造一座將重塑“大批量生產(chǎn)”定義的工廠。魏瑪豪森是Shapeways公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官，這家公司專事讓人們?cè)O(shè)計(jì)并訂購(gòu)利用高端3D打印機(jī)打印的物品。

????這不算什么新創(chuàng)意，但是從去年開始，3D打印重新變得炙手可熱起來：2007年，當(dāng)彼得在皇家飛利浦電子公司（Royal Philips Electronics）的孵化器里創(chuàng)辦這家公司時(shí)，他要打印一個(gè)自己設(shè)計(jì)的iPhone手機(jī)殼需要支付高達(dá)500美元的費(fèi)用。而現(xiàn)在在Shapeways公司，一個(gè)設(shè)計(jì)師只需付約20美元就夠了。正是看到了這一前景，近期安德森?霍洛維茨基金（Andreessen Horowitz）領(lǐng)銜向該公司投資了3000萬美元。

????在沒有親眼看到以前，是很難想象一臺(tái)機(jī)器怎么能“打印”出一個(gè)iPhone手機(jī)殼的。因此，上周五下午，《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）派出一隊(duì)記者和編輯奔赴長(zhǎng)島市，深入了解這項(xiàng)大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)技術(shù)。人們普遍認(rèn)為這項(xiàng)技術(shù)前景看好，奧巴馬在一月發(fā)布的國(guó)情咨文中還特地對(duì)此做了強(qiáng)調(diào)。

????Shapeways的工廠是去年秋季正式開建的，目前仍處于在建狀態(tài)。我們參觀了行政辦公區(qū)，那里有六名看起來像是布魯克林設(shè)計(jì)師的員工正在處理訂單。他們將訂單發(fā)往工廠，廠里目前已有六臺(tái)機(jī)器投入了運(yùn)行。當(dāng)該廠建成時(shí)，機(jī)器總數(shù)將達(dá)到50臺(tái)。

????在我們面前，一臺(tái)體形龐大的機(jī)器正冒出股股熱氣。這種機(jī)器的大小和冰箱差不多。在機(jī)器內(nèi)部，一個(gè)大小和我喜歡的紅辣椒托盤相仿的長(zhǎng)方形托盤上，正在逐層注入原材料細(xì)末。我們湊近觀察窗細(xì)看發(fā)現(xiàn)：一層細(xì)末正被鋪開。隨后，一束激光在細(xì)末上燒蝕出幾條線，把它加熱到接近熔點(diǎn)以形成打印物。打好這個(gè)托盤上的東西需要24小時(shí)。

????目前，長(zhǎng)島市這家工廠只用白尼龍塑料打印物品，不過這并不會(huì)一成不變。Shapeways在它的其他工廠里，也能用其他材料打印物品——比如不銹鋼、砂巖、陶瓷。該公司還在西雅圖和荷蘭的埃因霍溫設(shè)有辦公室。

????這種托盤所含物質(zhì)的結(jié)構(gòu)圖就掛在每臺(tái)打印機(jī)的右側(cè)。魏瑪豪森解釋說，Shapeways通過將不同客戶訂單的要素加以匹配，能充分利用好每個(gè)托盤。這些圖看起來像是3D聲波圖和“塊魂”（katamari，一種視頻游戲）結(jié)合的產(chǎn)物。這種優(yōu)化處理能降低價(jià)格。每個(gè)托盤打印好后，員工就把它拿到后期制作區(qū)域，去掉所有沒被激光封住的細(xì)末。最后得到的就是各種拼湊起來的部件，它們被弄干凈后就被分開并拋光，整個(gè)過程很像考古學(xué)家在尋找骨骼。根據(jù)訂單的要求，很多打印物品還會(huì)染上明快的色彩。

????A short subway ride from Midtown Manhattan, Peter Weijmarshausen is building a factory that reimagines mass production. Weijmarshausen is the co-founder and chief executive of Shapeways, a company that lets people design and order objects printed on high-end 3-D printers.

????It's not a new idea, but in the last year 3-D printing has become newly available: In 2007, when he first started the company within the incubator of Royal Philips Electronics, Weijmarshausen would have paid as much as $500 to print a self-designed iPhone case, for example. At Shapeways today, a designer will pay around $20. This promise recently spurred Andreessen Horowitz to lead a $30 million round of funding in the company.

????It's hard to imagine how a machine could "print" an iPhone case until you've seen it. So, last Friday afternoon a group of Fortune reporters and editors headed out to Long Island City for an inside look a the mass manufacturing technique considered so promising that President Obama called it out in his January State of the Union speech.

????The Shapeways factory officially opened last fall, but it's still under construction. We passed through the administrative area where a half-dozen Brooklyn designer types were fulfilling orders out to the factory floor where nine machines are up and running so far. When the factory is complete, there will be as many as 50.

????In front of us, one of these hulking machines gives off heat. It's the size of a refrigerator; inside, a rectangle tray the size of my favorite chili pan is being filled layer-by-layer with dust. We push our noses up to the small window to watch: A layer of dust is spread. Then, a laser burns a series of lines into the dust, heating it to the point of almost melting to form the object. It will take 24 hours for this chili-pan size tray to be complete.

????For now, the Long Island City factory only prints materials in a white nylon plastic, though that will change in time. Shapeways is able to manufacture in other materials -- stainless steel, sandstone, ceramics -- from its other facilities. The company also has offices in Seattle and Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

????A diagram of the tray's contents hangs to the right of each printer. Weijmarshausen explains that Shapeways maximizes each tray by pairing elements of different customer orders. These diagrams look like a cross between a 3-D sonogram and a katamari. This optimization brings the price down. Once the tray is completed, employees bring it over to a post-production area where they remove all the dust that hasn't been sealed by the laser. The result is a jumbled collection of parts that are cleaned and separated and buffed, much like bone-hunting archeology. Depending on the order, many are also dyed in bright hues.