USA TODAY: …Here at DF Robot’s production facility in the Zhangjiang Business Park, a roomful of humming 3-D printers and robots substitute for a traditional factory’s clanking presses and churning milling machines. One printer spews layer after layer of green molten plastic onto a canvas until an iPhone case takes shape in seven hours. Soon after, the versatile printer molds a pair of black high-heel shoes — a more complex task that takes 26 hours.
“Since 2012, we have seen a strong increase in demand for our printers,” says Ricky Ye, CEO and founder of DF Robot, which both manufactures printers and uses them to make product prototypes on a contract basis.
3-D printers look like document printers but crank out 3-dimensional objects. Based on a digital design, they lay down hundreds or thousands of layers of powdered metal or plastic until parts or entire products are sculpted… (more)
