Editorial

Citation

Campbell, I. (2010), "Editorial", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 16 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/rpj.2010.15616daa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Rapid Prototyping Journal, Volume 16, Issue 4

As I write, the UK Government’s grants to higher education institutions in England have just been announced. Overall, there has been a cut in real terms, the first time this has happened since 1997. It seems that spending on higher education is yet another casualty of the economic downturn and accompanying high government deficit that exists in this country. I know that several other countries are in a similar position, where spending on both teaching and research is likely to decrease over the next few years. As an industry, additive manufacturing has benefited from higher education expenditure, both for teaching and research, with many RP/AM machines finding their way into university and college departments. It will be interesting to see how much of a knock-on effect this will have on machine sales, in addition to the “belt-tightening” that has already happened in many commercial organisations. Perhaps, it will put even more pressure on all of the machine suppliers to provide low-cost high-quality “3D printing” solutions.

In this regard, it is interesting to note that HP have entered the market with their own branded version of a 3D Printer, launched into the UK in March of this year. The information that went out with my invitation to the launch stated that “this new product introduction from HP will provide manufacturers, product designers, engineers and educators with affordable, high-quality 3D printing, supported by HP’s renowned expertise in reliable, office-ready technology.” Of course, we all know that HP did not develop this technology but it is still noteworthy that they have now decided to “throw their weight” behind an additive manufacturing solution, after all these years of waiting. I imagine that they have been watching the industry carefully for many years, waiting for the right time to get involved. I wonder what has changed in HP’s viewpoint or attitude to explain the timing of this move. Some are predicting that it could have a similar impact as IBM’s entry into the personal computing arena, leading to an exponential growth in the number of machines being used. Others are recommending caution, saying that the two products and markets are very different. Whatever happens, I believe we will look back the HP/Stratasys deal announced at the start of this year as a milestone in this industry.

Ian Campbell