*It's quite interesting, although whenever industry insiders write opinion columns, it's always everybody else's company that is (a) overhyped and/or (b) holding things back.
https://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/05/an-insiders-view-of-the-hype-and-realities-of-3-d-printing/
(...)
"While the hype paints visions of limitless replication — lost components, shoes, body parts, musical instruments, even guns — here’s a key fact: Where 3-D printing may be unfettered by complexity, it is constrained by volume.
"Everything from cost and time to amount of material increases exponentially: specifically, to the third power.
"So if we want something twice as big, it will cost 8 times as much and take 8 times as long to print. If we want something three times as big, it will cost about 27 times more and takes 27 times longer to print. And so on.
"The 3-D printing ecosystem is changing
"The limitations introduced by “the 3rd power law of 3-D printing” — as well as the freedom of scale introduced by the unfettered complexity — should bookend any discussion of where 3-D printing is going.
"But everything else in between these two immutable facts is constantly changing. That includes the quality and speed of 3-D printing as well as the vibrant collection of people and companies working to overcome the current limitations and broaden use of the technology.
"The most common 3-D printing today is smaller-than-a-breadbox printing of plastic parts on machines ranging from open-source printers like RepRap to off-the-shelf printers like 3D Systems’ Cube (the one being carried by Staples). Then there are low-cost commercial printers like MakerBot and more expensive industrial versions made by companies like Stratasys and EOS. [For more specific numbers and data about the size, share, and growth of the market here, see the recent annual report by Wohlers Associates, which has been releasing it for 18 years.]
"The ecosystem isn’t just about the printers, however. 3-D printing is part of the accelerating software-controlled manufacturing trend which is making not just 3-D printers — but laser cutters, mills, lathes, routers, and industrial robots — increasingly powerful, affordable, approachable … and therefore accessible to lay users. Software is democratizing this space just as the PC democratized computing...."
