最新的3D打印技術已經縮短了設計師和工程師提出原型產品概念、制造原型產品和測試原型產品的時間。但3D打印技術要想在瞬息萬變的制造業中有所作為，就得讓企業不再只是把它當成一項新奇的技術升級，還能夠將它納入到日常的業務決策中。

這就是Stratasys Direct Manufacturing公司（簡稱SDM）研究報告的結論。SDM是全球3D打印制造企業Stratasys旗下的服務部門，專門為那些可能需要3D打印的原型產品或零部件，但又缺乏專業3D打印設備和技術人員的制造公司提供先進的制造和原型制作服務。

SDM公司的CEO喬?埃里森在《3D打印即將給制造業帶來的影響》一文中寫道：“今天，3D打印仍被看作一個技術解決方案，但未來的3D打印將是一個商業解決方案。”

這份未將SDM注明為贊助方的報告針對700名設計師、工程師和企業高管進行了調查，其中近半數受訪者來自年收入5000萬美元以上的制造企業。這些受訪者來自航空、醫療、汽車和能源行業，他們的公司要么已經采用先進的制造工藝，要么打算在三年內引進3D打印或直接金屬激光燒結設備。（需要注意的是，下文提到的“增材制造”和“3D打印”指的是同一個概念。）

SDM聲稱增材打印技術將成為一個商業解決方案。這究竟有何含義？埃里森在該報告中寫道，未來三年，3D打印技術將進入“終端生產”環節。

SDM公司的戰略、營銷與業務開發高級副總裁吉姆?巴特爾指出：“我們發現我們的客戶正在整個產品生命周期過程中利用這項技術。”巴特爾對《財富》表示，此次調查的受訪者們都希望在采購3D打印設備和訓練相關技術人員之后，能收到比較好的投資回報。“工程師已經在用3D打印機生產一些很酷的零件了，但這樣做究竟有什么商業價值？”

也就是說，3D打印技術在制造企業中的下一個發展階段，將從原型產品的快速制造過渡到組裝生產線，屆時增材制造工藝將被用來制造量產產品的零部件。其實這在有些行業已經發生了，Stratasys公司自身就和一些此類項目有直接聯系。比如，2014年11月，美國航空航天局的噴氣推進實驗室就在一顆飛往地外空間的衛星上安裝了一些由Stratasys公司用3D打印技術生產的零部件。空客公司目前已經開始利用Stratasys公司的量產級3D打印機，生產最新型空客A350 XWB客機的零部件。第一架飛機已經于2014年12月交付，它上面有1000多個用3D打印技術制造的零部件。

艾利森在SDM公司的這篇報告的簡介中寫道：“十年之內，每架商用飛機上都將有3D打印的零部件。”

是的，3D打印技術將進入終端零件，特別是金屬材料的生產環節。為了迎接這種變遷，很多企業正在構建自己的3D打印技術力量，培訓新員工，購買更多的3D打印機。SDM的報告顯示，在700名受訪者中，有73%的受訪者表示，他們的企業打算提高3D打印零部件的內部生產，這種趨勢在航空和醫療行業更為明顯。不過巴特爾也表示，隨著企業越來越多地使用增材制造技術生產終端產品，很多沒有足夠財力資源購買設備和培訓人員的企業將把這一環節外包出去。SDM的報告顯示，更多的企業計劃在短期內將金屬材料的增材制造工藝環節進行外包。

金屬的打印是一個關鍵。巴特爾表示，SDM公司的客戶，特別是航空和醫療領域的企業，都要求使用鋁、鈦等具有強度的輕質金屬生產零部件。SDM的報告也指出，84%的受訪者都把金屬作為他們最希望能取得進展的3D打印材料。根據SDM公司的預測，3D打印金屬的使用量將在未來三年里翻一番。

巴特爾表示：“如果你想打印出飛機的整個機翼，理論上也是能做到的。”

這份報告與全球3D打印與增材制造業最權威的《沃勒斯報告》得出了一些相同的結論。發布在Engineering.com上的《2015沃勒斯報告》中的一項分析表示：“在航空和醫療市場的一些高要求的生產應用中，工業金屬增材制造系統的使用也增長得非常迅猛。”《沃勒斯報告》顯示，增材制造服務和產品的市場規模在2014年增至41億美元。在未來幾年，這種增長趨勢預計還將持續下去。

巴特爾表示：“人們一直將這項技術視為一種技術解決方案，但它已經開始滿足客戶的商業需求了。”（財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

審校：任文科

New 3D printing processes have reduced the time it takes for designers and engineers to conceptualize, create, and test prototypes. But for 3D printing to catch on the rapidly changing manufacturing industry, it will have to be seen by companies less as a fascinating technological upgrade and more as an everyday business decision.

That’s the conclusion from a report published in August by Stratasys Direct Manufacturing SSYS -6.01% , the service arm of the global 3D-printer manufacturing company Stratasys. SDM provides advanced manufacturing and prototyping services to manufacturing companies who might need a 3D-printed prototype or part, but lack the in-house equipment or staff expertise.

“Today 3D printing is still perceived as a technology solution, but the future of 3D printing is as a business solution,” wrote Joe Allison, CEO of SDM, in 3D Printing’s Imminent Impact on Manufacturing.

The report, which didn’t identify SDM as the sponsor, pulled together survey responses given by 700 designers, engineers, and business executives, nearly half of whom work for manufacturing companies that pull in more than $50 million in revenue a year. Respondents came from the aerospace, medical, automotive, and energy industries, and all of them work for companies that are already using advanced manufacturing processes or plan to introduce things like 3D printing or direct metal laser sintering within three years. (And just so we’re all on the same page: The terms additive manufacturing and 3D printing were used interchangeably in the report.)

So what, exactly, does SDM mean in saying that additive manufacturing’s future is as a business solution? As Allison writes in the report, the growth in 3D printing over the next three years will come in “end-use” production.

“What we’re seeing now, and what our customers are doing … is using this technology all the way through the product lifecycle process,” said Jim Bartel, senior vice president of strategy, marketing, and business development for SDM. In a call with Fortune, Bartel said that participants in the survey are looking for the return on investment after purchasing 3D printing equipment and training the staff to use it. “Engineers are creating cool parts off their printers, but what it comes to is: What’s the business value?” he said.

In other words, the next phase of 3D printing development within manufacturing companies will involve bringing 3D printing out of the realm of rapid prototyping and into the assembly line, where additive processes are used to make parts that end up on the final product. This is already happening in some industries, and Stratasys has a direction connection to some of this work. In November 2014, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory installed parts 3D printed by Stratasys onto one of its satellites bound for outer space. Airbus is using Stratasys’ production-grade printers to print flight parts for its new A350 XWB airplane; the first one of these planes delivered in December 2014 had more than 1,000 3D-printed parts installed in it.

“Within 10 years, every commercial airplane will have 3D printed parts on it,” wrote Allison in the introduction to SDM’s new report.

To prepare for this shift in 3D printing, one that will see more companies using additive manufacturing, especially with metals, to manufacture end-use parts, companies are staffing up, training new workers, and buying more 3D printing machines, SDM’s report shows that 73% of the 700 respondents to SDM’s survey said their companies plan to increase their in-house production of additively manufactured parts, a trend more pronounced in the aerospace and medical industries. But Bartel said that, as companies increasingly turn to additive processes to manufacture end-use products, more outsourcing will be done by companies without the financial resources to purchase the equipment and train the staff. SDM’s report shows that more companies are planning to outsource additive metal production over the near-term.

And printing in metals is key. According to Bartel, SDM’s customers, especially those in the aerospace and medical fields, are asking for and using aluminum and titanium, lightweight metals with considerable material strength. SDM’s report bears this out: At 84%, respondents ranked metals as the leader when it comes to which materials they’d like to see developed further for additive manufacturing in the future. SDM predicts additive metal use overall to double in the next three years.

“If you wanted to print a full airplane wing, you could theoretically do it,” Bartel said.

SDM’s findings fit with some of the conclusions from this year’s Wohlers Report, the definitive, industry report on what’s happening with 3D printing and additive manufacturing worldwide. According to an analysis of the 2015 Wohlers Report by Engineering.com, ”the use of industrial metal additive manufacturing systems for demanding production applications in the aerospace and medical markets also grew strongly.” Worldwide, the market for additive manufacturing services and products grew to $4.1 billion in 2014, according to the Wohlers Report. And more growth is expected in coming years.

“People really have been looking at this [additive] technology historically more as a technology solution,” said Bartel, “but it’s now meeting business needs for customers.”