3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has wholly revolutionized product

manufacture and development and is gaining more and more popularity due to the
benefits it can bring. However, like almost all technologies, 3D printing also has both
benefits and  drawbacks that need to be taken into consideration.
3D printing involves joining materials together, layer after layer until successfully
creating an object from a 3d digital model. It is a single-step manufacturing process at
faster speed, so it is not only time-saving but also saves the cost of using different
manufacturing processes. It can also perform tasks once they are set, so there is no need
for supervisors to be around watching or operating them, and the cost for labors are
reduced. The products 3D printing can create are much more flexible and complex than
traditional methods, but lighter and stronger.  What is more, 3d printing only makes use
of the necessary materials with no or little wastage. 
However, there are still certain disadvantages of using 3D printing. First of all, the
materials which can be used are very limited, as they can only work with plastic and
some certain kinds of metals. Most 3D printers nowadays are relatively small which
restrict the size of parts that can be printed. Some technical issues can lead to design
inaccuracies and affect the production process. It can also lead to some social issues such
as job losses in the manufacturing sector, as the process using 3D printing technology
requires little labor forces. 
3D printing is a revolutionary and innovative product which still has a lot of potential. I
believe that in the future, scientists and engineers can work out the problems and improve
this technology so that it will be more complete and widely used.