EVOLVE Business and Professional Magazine August 2019 | Page 13

3DMT with design, production and maintenance could make the return on investment period too long to make it worthwhile,” he said. “If not automated, a manual process can still be made more efficient and productive by ‘fail-proofing’ to minimize substandard performance, including administrative tasks like accounting, contracts and human resources,” Lackemacher said. WHAT’S NEXT? Back at 3DMT, Nichols said the benefits of automation are already evident. In April, Aerojet Rocketdyne completed initial testing of a prototype of its next generation RL10C-X upper- stage rocket engine that contains major components produced with its 3D printing technology. The result: it expects to reduce the lead time by 35% to 50% and the overall engine cost by 25% to 35%, while improving the engine’s thrust capabilities and fuel economy, Nichols said. More improvements are expected as these technologies are perfected. But as with any technology, the question is if a disruption is around the corner. Fifer expects a steady development. “We’ve had the ‘wow’ moment,” she said. “Now it is going to evolve based on the pricing of machines and competition and labor availability.” Still, companies will be on the lookout. “Additive is going to be a big part of industry going forward,” Nichols said. “But I’m sure there will be something out there in the future that starts to take part of this market as well.” Charles Newbery is a freelance journalist and writer. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, LatinFinance, The New York Times and other publications. He also writes business content for companies and ghostwrites op-eds for executives. He can be reached at [email protected]. AUGUST 2019 | 13 |