Wednesday, March 26, 2014

The Cloudcast #136 - 3D Printing & The Future of Manufacturing

FATHOM: http://studiofathom.com/

FATHOM partners with Lawrence Livermore National Lab - 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Company Partners with LLNL's Additive Manufacturing Research and Development Team

Topic 1 - FATHOM  provides a wide range of services, from Design to Manufacturing to Branding to expanding Ideas. What’s your background and how did you get into a world that does so many unique skills?

Topic 2 - Two of the things we talk about all the time with Cloud Computing are the ideas that Data Centers have become agile “bits factories” and they companies need the ability to rapidly experiment and prototype. Talk about how those concepts align to 3D printing and these new idea>manufacturing>prototyping model?

Topic 3 - At a recent IDC conference, they talked about the concept of the “4th Platform”, where many things that were digital become physical

Topic 4 - Growing up in Detroit, there were tons of small shops that did “Tool & Dye” work for either the Big 3 or customer builders. How has 3D printing and this new manufacturing evolved to give smaller shops and individuals the ability to be empowered?

Topic 5 - Is there a big break-thru barrier for 3D printing and more individual designs? Is it something that Amazon.com enables, or some other tipping-point moment (economics, size of machines, etc.)? 

Topic 6 - Where does FATHOM fit into the bigger eco-system of 3D or Mfg or Rapid Prototyping? Do people partner with you to spin out businesses, are you an OEM, is it mostly direct, or is the supply chain completely wide-open when you can prototype or build or market at much different costs?

Topic 7 - Alot of people have heard of Maker Faire events and some DIY movements, but what are the best places for people to start and where are the communities to engage with?