3-D printing offers tremendous opportunities, but it also brings a few challenges. I recently wrote about opportunities in 3-D printing; here’s my take on challenges. 

Cost of 3-D printing. We may never see additive technology substitute for, say, injection molding for large production runs. However, even for the small production runs that are currently the technology’s sweet spot, users have some issues to consider.

More choice is sometimes uncomfortable. Mass customization was one of the opportunities that I mentioned earlier, but some consumers are overwhelmed by too many choices. Facing 200 different styles of sneakers, I may decide to stick with flip-flops. The best practice in many cases will be to offer a limited menu of choices, plus access to a far greater selection for those so inclined.

User changes can be dangerous. 3-D printing allows users, in many cases, to take a company’s design, tweak it, and print out the modified part. Someday, a guy is going to modify a design in a way that weakens the product. Then he’ll install it on the ceiling of his garage, hang a heavy object, and put his head underneath. You know it will happen. You just don’t know whether his wife will first call 911 or a lawyer. Note that many machines have scanners now, so the user doesn’t even have to access the design file to commit this mistake.

Energy usage in some applications is high. In others, it may be low.

Some 3-D designs don’t scale. Many companies would like to design a product, use 3-D manufacturing to test the market, then switch over to traditional manufacturing to keep costs down. However, the optimum design for 3-D printing is not always the optimum design for traditional manufacturing, and vice versa. Sometimes one design is a good alternative to the other, but there are cases where the 3-D design just wouldn’t work in traditional manufacturing. Design is typically a smaller cost compared to tooling, but manufacturing leaders should consider this issue early on.

These challenges are real, but not overwhelming. As 3-D printers become better understood, their use will become far more widespread. Their cost will also continue to decline, their functionality improve, leading to a large increase in usage.