One of the key talking points here at the Rapid show is why aren’t more engineers using these prototyping systems? Many feel it is insufficient knowledge about why you would want to use them. There are about 15,000 prototyping systems in use. Compare that to more than 9 million CAD seats. Why aren’t there several million users of 3D printers, SLA, SLS, and FDM machines? You tell me, do you need to know more about this equipment? And if so, what do you need to know?

A number of ideas for the “killer app” have been published here. But the best one, I think, was mentioned this morning in the keynote address: additive (and subtractive) manufacturing machines help you get products to market faster. That’s the killer app. So why are there only about 15,000 systems doing just that?

Source: :: Make Parts Fast ::