Could 3D printers execute the functions of the famed Star Trek transporter, where Scotty beamed just about anything anywhere? Possibly, if Amazon succeeds in its exploration of selling 3D printing technology and printed products to its customers.

The latest news, as reported by the Washington Post and others, is that Amazon is opening a storefront for 3D printing and 3D printed products. Well, that’s not exactly recent news. Amazon and Sculpteo announced a partnership for the same purposes last year. And reports say that Amazon plans to work with a few more suppliers of 3D printable files.

I tried out those services early in January of this year just to see how it would go. It didn’t go very well. Amazon has famously quick delivery. Physical items that I order from the company arrive at my house in 2 to 3 days. Electronic books, of course, come in seconds. The Sculpteo bracelet I ordered, however, took 3 weeks. The product offerings of Sculpteo listed on Amazon’s site consisted only of jewelry.

The more interesting angle from the Washington Post story is that the purpose of Amazon’s focus is to reduce transportation and distribution costs. Because of 3D printing technology and its ability to work with objects stored in digital form, retailers like Amazon might not need to stock products at all. Instead, a product would be stored as a CAD file. Once a customer placed an order, a 3D printer would be called upon to print the object and then ship it to the customer. This is very similar to the experience I had with Sculpteo. I place the order through the Amazon website, and waited while Sculpteo made it and then shipped it to me. I expected a quick delivery. Even a week would have been fine. But unless Sculpteo had a backlog of items to print, it should not have taken three weeks; the bracelet was not that complicated a print.

There were other problems as well; the bracelet broke easily, and they shipped a replacement to the wrong address.

But, what if consumers owned the 3D printer? What if all Amazon needed to “sell” was the build file for the desired object? That appears to be part of the reason behind the move to partner with 3DLT, a brick and mortar company offering a platform for 3D Printing As-a-Service. This service enables retailers to sell 3D printable designs, along with 3D printed products, online and in store. 3DLT sources and curates content and manages production on behalf of its retail partners. The company also provides consulting services, helping retailers architect and deploy their own 3D printing services.

Additionally, 3DLT is collaborating with Authentise, a company that has developed CAD streaming technology. 3DLT will implement key elements of Authentise’s technology to offer a streaming option for retailers and consumers who seek 3D printable computer aided design (CAD) files. This step addresses some of the issues with copyright and intellectual property.

“From the beginning, 3DLT has focused on delivering 3D printable content,” said CEO John Hauer. “The streaming technology of Authentise provides an important new licensing option, helping us better control the use of digital assets offered on our platform.”

The tools supplied by Authentise help confirm that the 3D printable files supplied by 3DLT are printed in accordance with their terms of license. This will not only ensure that the appropriate parties are compensated each time an item is printed, but will also provide design owners with additional peace of mind regarding their intellectual property. Since editable .STL files aren’t supplied, they can’t be easily modified by the end user.

“Intellectual property rights management is an important part of 3DLT’s offering,” said Hauer.

Therefore, consumers are just renting the build file. This transfers most of the cost of the item to the consumer—cost of the 3D printer, cost of the build material, the costs of finishing the object, and now cost of the design. Amazon costs, especially its transportation and delivery costs could drop to nearly zero, and it makes a little money as the supplier of the “ideas.” Interesting business model.

The idea that enough consumers will have a 3D printer and all you need to do is sell them the build file is a possibility. But much work needs to be done before such an experience is smooth enough for the average consumer. And the work to be done has not changed since this idea first emerged a couple of years ago—consumer targeted 3D printers still need to work with many more materials including metals (especially if Amazon is offer anything other than plastic products); the printing process needs to be faster; the user interface needs to be simpler, and printing in different materials needs to be safe for the home.

Leslie Langnau
llangnau@wtwhmedia.com