Many countries in the world have cultivated 3D printing as a new growth point for future industrial development. As early as 2012, the United States identified "additive manufacturing technology" as the first manufacturing innovation center (later renamed "made in America"), and the European Union, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Russia and other countries have also taken various measures to promote the development of 3D printing industry.


Since the rise of 3D printing, China has issued a number of policies to support the development of 3D printing industry. With the support of the policy, 3D printing enterprises have sprung up one after another and grown rapidly. The development of 3D printing industry in Beijing, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shaanxi and other places has also made remarkable progress. According to statistics, there are more than 400 enterprises engaged in 3D printing business in Guangdong Province alone, and there are many 3D printing industrial parks.

With the rapid development of 3D printing, whether the traditional manufacturing methods such as numerical control machine tools will be replaced has also become a hot topic for people from all walks of life. In recent years, the technology of CNC machine tools in China is improving day by day, and they have found a landing scene with 3D printing. Generally speaking, CNC machine tools need to be programmed in advance to achieve the formation of objects through continuous cutting. The working principle of 3D printer is similar to that of CNC machine tool. It also works according to computer instructions. The difference is that it makes products by stacking raw materials layer by layer. Therefore, 3D printing is also called "additive manufacturing".


The significant difference between 3D printing and traditional manufacturing lies in the process of product molding. In the traditional manufacturing industry, the whole manufacturing process generally needs to be formed through mold opening, cutting, casting or forging, component assembly and other processes. 3D printing eliminates the complicated process, eliminates the need for molds and one-time molding. Therefore, 3D printing can overcome some designs that cannot be achieved in traditional manufacturing and produce more complex structures.

On the contrary, numerical control machine tool is a type of computer numerical control (CNC), which can process complex, precise and various parts. Generally speaking, the CNC machine tool uses the program specified by the computer to remove the redundant materials through cutting, milling and other steps to achieve the final product, which belongs to the typical manufacturing of reduced materials.
On the one hand, the traditional manufacturing industry is mainly characterized by "global procurement, division of labor and cooperation". Different parts of products are often produced in different places and then transported to the same place for assembly. While 3D printing is "overall manufacturing and one-time molding", which saves the logistics link, costs and time.

On the other hand, the traditional manufacturing industry takes the production line as the core and the factory as the main carrier, and the production equipment is highly concentrated. While 3D printing reflects the integration of the new generation of information technology and manufacturing industry represented by cloud computing, big data, Internet of things and mobile Internet.

As a major product of the development of traditional manufacturing industry, machine tools are very different from the new generation of 3D printing manufacturing. The machine tool is the mother machine of the manufacturing industry. If 3D printing technology can be integrated into the machine tool field, it will undoubtedly add wings to the tiger. The combination of the two can not only improve the production efficiency, but also solve many manufacturing problems.

The special machine tools in the machine tools can be customized according to customer requirements, but the functions are not powerful and rich enough, and may not be designed and manufactured at will. However, with the introduction of 3D printing, the popularity and application of machine tool products may be greatly improved.

It is understood that 3D printing technology has been applied to the manufacturing of industrial parts in China, but it has not yet entered large-scale industrial application. Its process and equipment, as well as its application in medical treatment, aerospace and other fields, need to be further developed. In the current situation, 3D printing technology does not have the conditions to replace the traditional manufacturing industry. In terms of mass manufacturing, the traditional material reduction manufacturing method with high efficiency and low cost embodied by machine tool manufacturing is better.

Of course, with the emphasis on metal additive manufacturing, more and more equipment manufacturers in the traditional machine tool manufacturing field have entered the additive manufacturing field. Some have launched hybrid additive manufacturing equipment based on CNC machining centers, and some have simply entered the new additive manufacturing field. For example, piocreat introduced the material adding and reducing machine G40. Piocreat G40 is a composite equipment integrating pellet 3D printer and CNC milling. It is suitable for processing materials produced in small batches, or processing large-scale parts, such as heat-resistant alloy of aerospace parts and high hardness materials of parts.

The long-term coexistence of reduced material manufacturing and increased manufacturing is a trend that can be met. However, this situation may change in the future. In any case, it is expected that diversified applications will be realized in the way of fine, automatic and efficient manufacturing of products.