ABSTRACT
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is one of the additive manufacturing (AM) processes for producing physical 3D objects in the manufacturing industries. Common applications of 3D printing mainly focus on increasing the customisation of product design, reducing the product development time of rapid prototype, and reducing the 3D modelling and tooling costs. Stakeholders in the manufacturing supply chains could implement 3D printing technology to improve the practicability and productivity in the new product development (NPD) at different production scales. The market of 3D printing is estimated to grow by US$230–US$550 billion per year by 2025 with a large scale of applications. Consumer product category (including accessories and electric household appliances) is expected to occupy the largest portion of the 3D printing market at US$100–US$300 billion as these products contain high customisation values. Moreover, consumers might use their own domestic 3D printer to make 5% to 10% of these products by 2025 due to the maturation of the cost and composition of the 3D printing materials. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) forecasted that the 3D printing technology could also be useful in identifying the failures on the prototypes and improving the product safety in the NPD of consumer products or non-consumer products. To investigate the potential hazards and the solutions for safety problems in the NPD process, this book chapter explains the applications, technologies, materials and the trends of 3D printing in NPD process in the manufacturing and the testing, inspection and certification (TIC) industry. Four critical areas will be explored to reveal the improvements of the product safety on consumer products including: (1) Developing 3D printing alert system in conceptual design; (2) Standardising 3D production tools; (3) Centralising 3D testing in the TIC industry; and (4) Online 3D printing hub.
