The Issues & Challenges of 3D Managed Print Services: Towards a Support Tool for 3D Managed Print Services

Extrusion 3D printing has seen a rapid growth across many engineering sectors and is expected to triple in market value over the next decade. This is partly due to a step change in capability and increase in demand for the technology, and is leading to a requirement for 3D Managed Print Services (3D MPSs). This is where queues of prints are being received from multiple users and sent to multiple 3D printers. Examples of this include, Universities, where printers are being increasingly used in teaching, and the growing industry commonly referred to as Fabrication Laboratories (FabLabs).

Given the above situation, this paper argues that gaps exist in the capability of current software and support tools to offer appropriate support for 3D MPSs. To begin to address this, this paper discusses the key issues and challenges introduced by 3D MPSs, which continues into a proposition for a support tool for 3DMPSs. The paper then demonstrates the current development of this tool with the current focus of maximising 3D printer productivity. Through the application of this tool, it is proposed that a substantial gain in productivity can be achieved.