Can 3D Printers Achieve Large-Scale Industrial Production?

Nike announced that it will cut 1400 people and close the 25% production line.

Large sports brands such as Adidas and Puma have already started pformation.

These industry giants are more and more inclined to use high intelligence technology to replace human powered shoes, especially 3D printing technology.

Prior to that, Adidas and Carbon 3D have launched the world's first 3D printing sneaker, Futurecraft4D.

According to Adidas, the first batch of 3D products will be sold in autumn and winter this year.

Compared with the small scale 3DRunner produced before, Futurecraft4D has the advantage of mass production and faster production.

This marks the first time that 3D printing technology has broken through the laboratory model manufacturing and entered the real industrial production.

Little known is that the Carbon 3D company, which led the industrialization of 3D printing technology, was seen by an eyesight Chinese at the early stage of its founding.

He is the senior Chinese hedge fund manager of Wall Street and founder of Kaplan investment management company.

"Investing in China's new economy" is the strategic fulcrum of Zheng Fang and its controlled Kaplan.

As an early investor of Carbon 3D, in his view, the breakthrough of 3D printing technology can not only meet the trend of personalized development quickly and cheaply, but also a shortcut for China's manufacturing industry to break through, and it will play a revolutionary role in the improvement of social productivity.

Zheng Fang's investment philosophy is to change human life.

The initial choice to invest in Carbon 3D is mainly based on the development trend of human individuation.

"Investing in 3D is for everyone to enjoy their best products," Zheng said.

In the history of human development, Zheng Fang believed that the machine opened human industrialization civilization by extending the physical limits of human beings.

For example, cars extend human footsteps, washing machines replace human arms and so on.

The next breakthrough in society is artificial intelligence.

Although the human brain is very complex, the success of Alfa's dog has proved to the world that artificial intelligence can improve human's judgement ability in some aspects.

Its development will further promote the development of post industrialization.

And can 3D printer be realized?

Mass production will directly affect the process of human post industrial era.

Because industrial production is the process of going to human nature, the removal of individuation and the improvement of industrialization make its cost drop.

Post industrialization is a return to individuation, but technology must be used as a carrier. 3D printing is a carrier of science and technology, so that the desire for individuality can be truly realized.

In Zheng Fang's view, although 3D printing technology began to study more than 20 years ago, most of them still stay in the laboratory and low level model state, which is relatively small in scale and can not achieve industrial production, and can not really popularize consumption products.

The reason why we invest in Carbon 3D is precisely because it solves this bottleneck problem.

"The main reason for choosing this company is that the founder of the company is an expert in materials science. It uses different ways and means."

Zheng Fang said.

At present, the 3D printing technology for liquid materials mostly uses stereolithography, which is to construct three-dimensional objects by layer by layer solidification and layer by layer accumulation. The optical radiation between layers and layers is interrupted, then the surface of the solidified area is re covered or filled with accurate and uniform photosensitive resin, and then the new solidified layer is formed by light irradiation. The system is complex and time-consuming.

The Carbon 3D company uses the "continuous liquid level growth technology". The technology uses light permeable material Teflon to introduce oxygen as a curing inhibitor, so that the curing process can be maintained continuously, which is 25 times to 100 times faster than the traditional 3D printing.

In terms of practicality,

Futurecraft4D was produced by many experiments.

Not only is it cheap and durable, but it is now open to the consumer side.

When ordering these shoes, you can customize the patterns and colors of your shoes according to your personal preferences, and you can also produce more suitable soles based on weight and footwork data.

"Our investment philosophy is to change human life, including investing in Meitu Xiu Xiu, changing women's lives and making women beautiful.

Investing in 3D printing is for everyone to enjoy their best products.

Carbon 3D allows you to wear a pair of shoes that match your personality, and you can also realize your personalized needs in various fields. Its application is very extensive.

Zheng Fangru said.

In fact, Nike, a sports equipment giant who has been in a period of change, sees this expectation very clearly.

According to the company's observation, their customers are paying more and more attention to the digitalization and personalized service of the brand.

Inevitably, intelligent automation with 3D printing as the core will be the future trend.

At the latest to 2023 years, two of Nike and Adidas brands will produce 20% of their products.

Zheng Fang's investment in Carbon 3D is also based on the development needs of China's manufacturing industry.

Zheng Fang believes that China must maintain the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry, especially on the basis of the 1 billion 400 million population. It is unrealistic to walk the virtual economy entirely.

Once the basic pillar of the manufacturing industry is lost, all industries will be empty.

"Everything is made, not blown out."

Wang Yuquan, founder partner of Hai Yin capital, also said: "the problem of manufacturing upgrading is not how to create, but what to build.

If you build the most advanced products, your manufacturing level is bound to be good.

Therefore, cooperation with the world's advanced technology enterprises is the core of China's manufacturing development. "

at present

The main way to absorb overseas advanced technology is direct acquisition, but it is difficult to buy the real core technology under the trend of cross border mergers and acquisitions.

In this regard, Zheng Fang pointed out: "China must take the lead in the world. We must become shareholders of others so that we won't lose the leveraging board of technology."

Otherwise, when a technology is mature, we have to spend a lot of money to buy him back. At that time, the cost will be very high, and it will be subject to many regulatory restrictions. "

For example, the acquisition of KUKA by the United States, because the technology has matured.

At the time of purchase, the government and the media are highly concerned. The success is very difficult.

Such cases have appeared many times before.

"In the field of science and technology, we need to be a participant, advocate and inventor of advanced foreign technology at the very beginning.

In this way, we can say with great sincerity that this is the technological progress that we have brought to the other side. This progress can serve China, or even serve the whole world, so as to reduce the risk of trade friction.

Zheng Fang said.

In addition to investing in Carbon 3D, Kaplan, who runs the company, also invested in zoox last year.

This company has the world's most advanced and even driverless car technology comparable to Google.

At the beginning of this year, the company also introduced the Tencent to participate in the follow-up investment.

In the eyes of Zheng Fang, the core of the future development of China's manufacturing industry is to advance the layout in the world's most advanced fields of science and technology.

"The state needs to have a forward-looking and comprehensive consideration in strategy, and the relevant departments should also support private capital in the world's leading scientific and technological fields.

This can lay a strong technological foundation for China to continue to maintain its leading position in the manufacturing industry in the future.

For more information, please pay attention to the world clothing shoes and hats and Internet cafes.