The Repositioning Of Designer And Product Design Under The Influence Of3D Printing Technology

Now days, the society is moving toward to a new industrial revolution. The application ofnew technologies will change the pattern of the world economy. As a representative, newmanufacturing technologies like3D printing has show the possibility of changing thetraditional manufacturing model.3D printing technology is a general name of seriesmaterial manufacturing technology which forming the material layer by layer. Because ofthe changes in the way of manufacturing,3D printing technology can produce shapes andstructures which are difficult to manufacture in traditional molding methods, while in theprocess of changing the product as no additional cost. The costs of3D printing equipmentsare also much lower than traditional manufacturing equipments. In this perspective,3Dprinting is not just technological advances in manufacturing technology, but also theeconomic base and manufacturing model changing of the ecological environment which themanufacturing in. Large-scale manufacturing clusters will evolve into ecological dispersedmanufacturing Network. And history tells us that when the basis for the system is changed,the system will lead to a fundamental revolution.Industrial design is an important part of the manufacturing system. The development of3Dprinting technology means industrial design will face the same revolutionary changing.With no constraints which brought by the marginal cost of mass production, the designerwill have more freedom, but will also pay more attention to the needs of users rather thanthe wills of maker. Manufacturing ecological changing will expand the influence of design,but also make difference in connotation and denotation of design. Designers will becomethe product manufacturer. With the improvement and widespread application of3D printingtechnology, many new business models will be appear around the designers. And in theearly stages of change, not all the types of products will changing dramatically, traditionalmanufacturing still remains strong manufacturing capabilities in the coming period, but thechange has occurred in some area of production which highly fit the3D printingtechnology.Prosthetics is a highly personalized and long life cycle product. Because of the high cost oftechnology monopoly and custom, low-income groups are difficult to afford the high price of prostheses in current, while the low-level prosthetic products are not available to meetthe basic function of the user’s individual needs. The prosthetic is the products which highlyfit3D printing technology. Application of this technology can be the perfect solution to thecontradiction prostheses between cost and functionality. Therefore, I design a prosthetic asthe project of this thesis.