Businesses urged to embrace 3D printing or be left behind

WORLDWIDE specialists will converge in Brisbane next week to present the latest trends in 3D printing and to identify how the changing landscape will impact Australian businesses.

The Griffith University and QMI event on Tuesday November 24 is aimed at helping industries to transition to new business practices, to identify new opportunities and to protect themselves from becoming out of sync with global developments.

According to event organiser Professor Jennifer Loy, Program Leader of Industrial Design at Griffith University, things in this field are moving at a rapid pace and Australia should be at the forefront.

“Wohler’s latest report predicts that 3D printing will be a two billion dollar industry within five years,” she says.

“3D printing is not just an add-on technology within the digital landscape – it has matured and now completely changes what is possible.

“It can impact the world of fashion, medicine, automotive, engineering, criminology and manufacturing and so many other fields that businesses need to be open to rethinking customer relationships and product possibilities.

“In the last five years alone we’ve seen exponential growth with what it can do and major companies, such as Airbus and Lockheed Martin are leading the way in utilising the technology for topologically optimised industrial applications, whilst creative industry companies such a Legacy FX, are relying on 3D printing in the latest films.

“Medical applications are particularly relevant because the digital technologies allow for accurate customisation. It won’t be long before doctors can scan a patient during an operation, print a new implant, such as part of a bone, on the spot and replace it all in a few hours.”

The event will feature experts including Dr Lionel Dean (Future Factories); Professor Olaf Diegel (Lund University); Professor Ian Gibson (Co-Author of Additive Manufacturing Technologies); Dr Matt Dargusch (UQ Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing); and Gail Greatorex (Product Safety Solutions).

To close, an exhibition including 3D designs of chairs, lighting and musical instruments from Future Factories, a full length 3D printed dress from 20,000 individual components, metal printing and jewellery, and a range of Griffith University student work will be on show.

Beyond 3D Printing: The Evolving Digital Landscape

9.15am - 5.00pm, Tuesday 24 November, 2015

The Edge, Stanley Place, Brisbane

 

griffith.edu.au

 

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