How 'Fabbing' Will Change Different Industries Until 2030. The Future of 3D Printing in Aerospace, Retail and Healthcare

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Economics - Innovation economics, grade: 1.5, EBS European Business School gGmbH (Institute for Innovation and Transformation), language: English, abstract: The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of fabbing on various industries to reveal how these industries could potentially be transformed in the next 15 years. First, the subsequent chapters two and three cover the theoretical fundamentals of this paper. In doing so, chapter two addresses additive manufacturing, which focuses on its definition and procedure as well as fabbing, which is covered to the most detailed extent as it is the additive manufacturing's main field of application. As additive manufacturing is often classified a disruptive technology, chapter three discusses Christensen's theory as well as recommendations on how to deal with disruptive innovations. Based on these fundamentals, chapter four starts with the design of a scorecard, which matches various industries with a score from one to five to each of the most relevant factors that have to be considered when evaluating the impact of fabbing on the respective industries. Afterwards, the three industries with the highest overall score are selected for further investigation. This investigation addresses the impact of fabbing on that particular industry and will be based on theknowledge, valuation and expectations of experts. Furthermore, an exemplary case study of one enterprise from each industry is conducted to showcase actual changes within a company. The paper then concludes with a summary and an outlook on necessary further research.