Additive manufacturing, since its origin in the 1980’s, has experienced rapid development, gradually emerging as a major industry in the modern economy. While the technology is still in midst of improving, it has still proved far more efficient than the known methods of conventional manufacturing in terms of required costs and time. Specifically, additive manufacturing has greatly contributed to advancing the field of biomedical science and engineering, and especially the production and application of prosthetics.

Consequently, the new technology has so far wielded considerable amounts of influence on modern competition between firms and industries in the said occupation. For instance, the increased rate in speed with which a 3D printer produces a prosthetic has proved to outperform that of conventional machinery, which in turn leads to a favorable competition between the two different technologies, most likely favoring the former. Furthermore, because of its inexpensive costs, 3D printed prosthetics have been, and still are, localized to numerous medical institutions.

As a result, the relationship between aggregate demand and supply for biomedically engineered products have so far shifted, as the former is efficiently satiated while the latter increases in quantity. Consumers, therefore, will most likely witness a change in their views towards prosthetics and similar products, due to the aforementioned changes and developments. Further influences of newly produced prosthetics to the national economy can also be speculated with the contemporary trends of production, as they grow more crucial to the modern field of medicine.

<Jason Hyun J Serra 11th Grade>