3D Printing and the Emergence of Industrial Rhythmeering

October 11, 2006 at 10:57 pm | Posted in 3D Printing, Dematerialization, General, News | 2 Comments

Four years ago in the preface of Jazz and the Future of Global E-Commerce, I described how the increasing significance of the role and value of information has been transforming engineering and manufacturing, leading to the need for the new discipline of Rhythmeering. Today, as it becomes more widely recognized that there is real value in virtual objects people are beginning to see that:

“The actual is the new virtual,” Sterling said in an interview with Wired News. “The virtual identities of objects and plans for objects will become more economically important than the actual things.”

Wired

This is, as detailed in the above-mentioned preface because:

The design, construction and operation of light, aerodynamically efficient, high-performance vehicles is an information-intensive process. From composite materials for cars and planes to microchips to nanoscale devices, the amount of material per dollar for products is shrinking.

With the cost of 3D printers dropping into the upper end of consumer pricing($20K), more and more companies like Fabjectory will emerge along with the need for methodologies and tools of Rhythmeering.