There is no question that one of the products that will have a dramatic effect on the future business and how we manufacture and distribute goods is the 3-D printer. Gartner has announced that it expects about 57,000 3-D printers at a cost of less than $10,000 to ship in 2013, a jump of about 50% over last year. Expect 100,000 units to sell in 2014 and 200,000 units in 2015. Now these are the $10,000 units, there are now fairly basic units are available for $500 and one would expect that most businesses, dorm rooms and even homes will have a 3-D printer next to the 2D printer.
Also claims that the 3-D printing industry will grow from a $288 million business to more than $5.7 billion by 2017. As I said, I believe that 3-D printers will have the most dramatic effect on the manufacture and distribution of a very wide range of products since the advent of the assembly line and the truck.