Neil Patel is adamant that, in the next decade, 3D printers will become as common a household item as a personal computer.
“It just makes no sense [that] the world’s biggest industrial secret that’s been around 30 years won’t be unleashed on the world population – because anyone can design and literally produce this at home,” he said, gesturing to a neon-green basket the size of a dinner plate and height of a coffee mug.
“I just can’t see why that isn’t going to become part of life.”
As CEO of Vancouver-based Print the Future, Patel – and, incidentally, corporate giants such as Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) – is banking on his prediction.
Gone are the days when 3D printing was merely about multithousand-dollar machines making trinkets or prototypes out of resin. Staples Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) now sells a 3D printer for under $300. Higher-end machines can make goods out of stainless steel, chocolate, wood and more than 100 other materials.
Machines can make machines, prosthetics and food. Costs have come down, and options have increased to the point where Patel foresees the day when a customer can walk into one of his stores, tell a computer the type of chair he or she wants to buy, choose from the options closest to his or her tastes and preferences and send the order straight to a 3D printer. In a couple of hours, six identical garden chairs at Ikea prices are ready for pickup in time for the customer’s dinner party.
“For me, 3D printing is where BlackBerry (TSX:BB) was 10 years ago,” Patel said. “Jump forward now almost 10 years, we’ve got smartphones, we’ve got the Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) store, we’ve got Android, and we’ve got apps that we use in our daily lives. Really, we’re immersed in our smartphone.”
