Does 3D Printing Belong in the In-plant?

Microsoft has added native 3D support to its Windows 8.1 operating system. So in the future, when you purchase a computer running Windows 8.1, the drivers for the most common 3D printers will be included in the system, with the hopes of making 3D printing plug and play.

3D printing can be the perfect fit for an in-plant because of centralization. The 3D needs of an engineering or manufacturing company with multiple divisions or operations would be much better served by centralizing the 3D printing operation. If each segment of your parent organization has its own equipment, there will inevitably be utilization issues. There would be either bottlenecks or under-utilization.