Will 3D printing be the next boom in China?
China’s Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology wants to use tax incentives to speed up R&D and applications for 3D printing
Speaking at a three day international forum about 3D printing in Wuhan, Su Bo said "It is a revolutionary manufacturing technique. Once put to large-scale production, it will ease China's pressure on energy and resources. China is the world's biggest manufacturer. If the technology can be put to broader use, the country's productivity and energy- and resource-use efficiency will improve greatly.”
China's economy is now the second largest in the world, mainly due to the west outsourcing manufacturing to the country which has lower wages and lower raw material costs. However, with wages rapidly rising in China, some commentators have argued that 3D printing could bring a certain percentage of manufacturing back to the west. It is a technology that could equally benefit China, according to David Bourell, a professor of the University of Texas at Austin, who said: “Even if the smallest portion of consumer goods are produced through 3D printing, the market volume will be tremendous,”
Academician Lu Bingheng with the Xi'an Jiaotong University took the development of 3D printing equipment as an "indicator of the dynamic and innovation capability of an economy."
He noted that China has only 8.6% of the total 3D printers in the world compared to 38.5% for the America but President Li Peigen with the Huazhong University of Science and Technology said that China was almost on par with developed countries in R&D and application of 3D printing technology.
The university’s Fast Manufacturing Center has invented a 3D printer which can produce products using a variety of materials including metal, porcelain, plastics and sand. The selective Laser Sintering machine boasts a massive build volume of 1200mm x 1200mm and back in 2010 the Center was selected by Airbus to support producing large-scale titanium alloy structural parts for aerospace.
According to Cai Daosheng, a researcher with the center."Additional manufacturing technique will enable manufacturers to shorten production cycles, better meet individual needs and easily cope with the production of complex or large-scale components. There is much to be done for domestic researchers," he said.
To support the 3D printing industry in China, The United Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Tsinghua University and other authoritative research institutions and 3D printing leaders have formed an Industry Alliance.
Source: China.cn.org
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