Manufacturing
/ Spring 2015 / Issue 78

s+b Trend Watch: 3D Printing’s Impact on the Transportation Industry

As more products and their parts can be made locally, the need to ship them to market will be reduced.

As 3D printing becomes more common, many products, their parts, or the raw materials needed in their manufacture can be made locally—reducing or eliminating the need to ship them to market. Footwear and toys, for example, are likely to require much less shipping in the future because they are currently both costly to transport and highly suitable for 3D printing.

3D Printing’s Impact on the Transportation Industry

Source: “2015 Commercial Transportation Trends,” by Andrew Schmahl, Andrew Tipping, and Fred Duiven, Strategy& Industry Perspective, Jan. 2015.

Visit strategyand.pwc.com/industry-perspectives for more trends from the 2015 Strategy& industry perspectives.

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