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WWatt’s Scienceabout any type of electronics can be produced in this way. Thin FilmElectronics is a Norwegian print electronics company based in Oslowhich produces rewriteable, non-volatile memory using ferroelectricpolymers in a roll-to-roll printing process. They’ve been doing thissince 1994.The process of manufacturing is changing. Stratasys intends toproduce an entire car in one of its 3D printers. Consider what thismeans to the world of work.These machines can be programmed to manufacture themselvesas well as the consumer and industrial products their clients want. Afull series of fabrication labs would contain specialised 3D printers,electronic component printers and a robotic assembly line. If devicesin the assembly line break they’re simply replaced from within theproduction process.On the positive side, such manufacturing uses less material and lessenergy than any other form of manufacturing. On the negative, it alsorequires fewer people. Those it does are likely to be programmers anddesigners, not blue-collar workers.More importantly, this technology is open to anyone. The USand European governments believe that such processes will allowmanufacturing to return to their nations. This wouldn’t createthat many new jobs and there is nothing to stop the Chinese frommanufacturing in the same way.Mass production is likely to give way to mass customisation.Everything from clothing to household devices to your motor carcould be customised to your own taste. CAD and Computer AidedManufacturing designs will be bought, sold and customised. They’llalso be stolen, adding a whole new dimension to the piracy debate.Consider the scale of change that this unleashes. Everything, fromthe way we certify safety and regulatory compliance in manufacturingto the way we work and buy, will change. This won’t be fast, but itwill happen.Professor James Yoo, at the Institute of Regenerative Medicine atthe University of Wake Forest, is taking 3D printing even further witha system to print skin directly onto burn wounds. Bio-printing, as thenew technology is known, is already making waves. “The bio-printerhas a built-in laser scanner that scans the wound and determines itsdepth and area. The scan is converted into three-dimensional digitalimages that enable the device to calculate how many layers of skincells need to be printed on the wound to restore it to its originalconfiguration,” says Lin Edwards of Physorg.com.Professor Hod Lipson, director of Cornell University’sComputational Synthesis Laboratory, has used a bio-printer toproduce a human ear based on a computer scan of an existing ear.The objective is to print with cartilage. At the moment Lipson’sdevice is used to produce synthetic heart valves.And if this is ambitious at the biological level, consider ContourCrafting. They are working on a large-scale device that will be movedto a building site where it is to produce entire homes, offices andfactories.Of course, societies have survived such technological transitionsbefore. Agriculture, a mere 100 years ago, employed 60% ofAmericans. It still does in many parts of Africa. However, theIndustrial Revolution of the 18th century created winners and losersMarch 2011 13