Printing up a storm in plastic

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) will host its inaugural seminar on 3D Printing on the 4th June 2014, entitled '3D Printing and the Plastics Industry: What you Need to Know'.

The one day seminar, which will be chaired by James Woodcock, Group Editor and Conference Director for the leading industry title and show dedicated to all things 3D printing, tct, will feature a number of industry experts alongside three leading academics who will discuss the future of 3D printing and its implications for the plastics industry.

The seminar includes presentations on ’The Realities of 3D Printing Today’, ‘Tool-less Production and on demand Manufacturing’ and ‘How Moulders can Win Business by Investing in 3D Printing’.

“In the last few months, many of our members have expressed an interest in 3D printing,” commented Stephen Hunt from the British Plastics Federation. “Examples include moulding companies who are looking for ways to meet the needs of their customers by investing in top-end 3D printing machines and also equipment suppliers who are using 3D printed parts in their machines to allow them to continually refine their designs and innovate faster.”

The 3D printing industry is rapidly growing, with the Technology Strategy Board estimating the industry could be worth up to $100bn by 2020 (from $1.9bn in 2011).

However, with any industry growing at this rate there are a number of problems to overcome including health and safety, the recyclability of material, intellectual property theft and of course the security issues raised by the well publicised issue of 3D printing of guns.

"At the current time, the UK is a global leader in 3D printing know-how and we feel this is something that could benefit the wider plastics industry,” commented Philip Law, Director-General designate at the BPF. “The BPF is holding this seminar to gives plastics firms an opportunity to better understand the technology and the ways in which it could affect their business in the future."