Most people in manufacturing maintain that 3D printing’s growth and acceptance will depend on large companies like GE, Ford, and John Deere committing to the technology.

The president of BigRep America, Frank Marangell, is not among them.

He contends that small-to-midsize manufacturers will be the prime drivers of AM’s growth. One reason is that smaller companies can prototype, test, build, and bring a new part online much faster than their larger counterparts. Another reason is that big manufactures are more risk-averse. As an example, Marangell cited BigRep customer Boyce Technologies , a manufacturer of parts and housings used by the mass-communications industry. The company’s owner, Charles Boyce, found that by simply changing the material used to 3D-print a prototype, he could print the needed parts and eliminate having to machine hard tooling. Welcome to the future “John Deere and General Motors couldn’t do that,” […]

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