Well, perhaps you own a HP printer, most small business owners do, and most of the households these days do have an HP printer in their home. It is the number one selling brand, and they’ve made billions of dollars selling these computer peripherals. But did you know that HP makes most of its money off the high-priced ink that it sells? That’s interesting isn’t it? Now then, who will be the next company to make it in the printing space, and when I say space I mean 3-D space? You see, the future of 3-D printing is already here, and it will experience exponential growth for quite a while. Okay so let’s talk shall we?
In the 2-D printing business HP made most of its money from the ink. In the 3-D printing business those making the material stand a lot to gain. Just as you have to buy the ink for a 2-D printer, you have to buy the material for making 3-D objects. That means people will have to buy this material, and they will need to buy it in bulk. Perhaps they will buy a container which may look like gray sand, and they will put that into their 3-D printer whenever they download the file to make whatever it is they plan on making. Now then, consider the supply chain for this material if you will.
Imagine how you will get that to market? First you will have to ship it to distribution centers, probably by rail car, and it will be put into smaller containers and people will buy it for their homes and small businesses maybe from Home Depot, or Maybe Office Depot. Large industrial users, part makers, and corporations will buy it in bulk by the railcar load. Do you see that point? Of course, this means they will need special containers and special rail cars. Also we will need to build special trucks with special bodies to haul this material. Who knows, we may even print rail cars one day to carry the 3-D material in the giant hopper.
The hopper will not be anything similar to those railcars used to move sand and gravel or sweet potatoes, nor will they be shaped like the truck trailers that carry tomatoes to market. These will need to be enclosed and humidity free. It will be a challenge transporting this product and keeping it at the correct temperature so that it does not solidify, or start to combine and react with itself.
In fact, I would submit to you that those involved in the supply chain of this 3-D material also stand to make quite a bit of money because it will be a specialized need, and those that get started on this now with all the designs, patents, and who work on the supply chain will be well ahead of the curve.
If you’d like to discuss this with me at a much higher level, you may shoot me an e-mail. I have some concepts and designs in my head, and all of this appears to be feasible from an engineering standpoint. Please consider all this and think on it.
