PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
CAN 3D PRINTING
TECHNOLOGY REPLACE
THE TRADITIONAL
MOLDING TECHNOLOGY
IN KENYA’S
MANUFACTURING
SECTOR?
By Eugene Wanekeya
I
consider myself tech-savvy and
up to date with trends but it
came as a surprise to me that
3D printing technology has been
in Kenya for the past four years.
I have seen this amazing tech in
movies of course and at times
thought it was science fiction –
the obj ects these 3D printers can
produce are unbelievable!
Which brings me to my point: can
3D printing technology replace
the traditional molding technology
in Kenya’s manufacturing sector?
And, has this technology been
poorly marketed in Kenya?
Let’s start with the basics. What
is 3D printing? 3D printing
commonly referred to as additive
manufacturing is a process of
making three dimensional solid
objects from a digital file. In much
‘simpler’ terms, it involves laying
down successive layers of material
through a computer-controlled
process until the object is created.
Objects can be of almost any shape
or geometry and are produced
using digital model data from a
3D model or another electronic
data source such as an Additive
Manufacturing File (AMF). For
instance, (just keeping it simple),
you can print an actual plastic
Octopus by first inputting a 3D
‘‘3D printing commonly referred to as
additive manufacturing is a process of
making three dimensional solid objects
from a digital file. In much ‘simpler’ terms,
it involves laying down successive layers
of material through a computer-controlled
process until the object is created. ’’
68 MAL 17/17 ISSUE
image of the Octopus into the
printing software, and the printer
does the rest – printing out the
solid Octopus.
To start us off, tech analysts in
the manufacturing sector do not
see 3D printing technology as
a replacement or competitor to
the traditional injection molding
and other mass manufacturing
technologies. Instead, they see
it as complementary reason
being, 3D printing addresses
some weaknesses of traditional
manufacturing methods but does
not surpass the strengths.
For instance, the main weakness
in traditional manufacturing
has always been low volume
production. Many small-scale
entrepreneurs in manufacturing
have ended up with very high
production costs because it is too
expensive to produce in small
quantities.
In some instances, it is impossible
to get a manufacturer to produce
your products if you do not hit
a certain threshold in terms of
quantity to be produced. This is