Why 3D Printing is Key to Growth in the U.S. Custom Jewelry Market

This paper aims to show how 3D printing has been embraced for manufacturing uses over a whole sector as well as how the technology has changed the competitive dynamics. To do this, an industry where 3D printing is already extensively used was under focus. The hearing aid business presented a strong argument since by 2007 practically all of the sector had

switched to this technology. In several other fields, including orthopedics, automotive, dental, and aerospace, the change is still under process. Moreover, the hearing aid sector is strongly consolidated and six companies collectively controlled more than 95 percent of the market in Bernstein, thereby making it possible to investigate the whole sector. Apart from the

producers of hearing aids, 3D printers, makers of software and scanners were also targets.A qualitative case study approach was selected since thorough examples are required to explain how the hearing aid industry moved to 3D printing and since it allows the kind of rich descriptions needed to solve these research issues (Yin, 1994). Case studies fit when

Investigating a phenomena that has been little investigated

before and produce low generalizability. As said before, there are few studies thus far which have explored how an entire industry has adopted 3D Printing for production purposes and thus, the selected method is judged suitable.Given the goal is to cover various actors and map their adoption of 3D printing, a targeted method of data collecting was implemented.

Targeting important people who have been in charge of guiding the hearing aid sector toward 3D printing, we examined copious of secondary data. One or several people in charge of using 3D printing for making hearing aid shells were interviewed at every hearing aid company.Developers of scanners, software, and printers also came under approach. Here we

conducted interviews with directors as well as those who had been in operational control of the hearing aid industry.The interview questions focused on when and why three-dimensional printing was used by each hearing aid company. Respondents were asked when they first thought about using the technology, when they bought printers, and what vendors they turned

They were also asked to outline the major justifications

for using 3D printers as well as the most difficult obstacles they ran across using them. Interviewees were also asked about how adoption was scaled across their companies, when their whole operations had switched into 3D printing, and what the main result had been. Concerns also included whether any new companies had entered the sector and whether this

technological revolution had changed the market share among the six incumbent companies. Similar queries were posed to providers of scanners, software, and printers, therefore allowing triangulation of significant occurrences. interviews in all, either over a video conference or on phone. Interviews were videotaped and transcribed. Responders were then asked to go over the transcript and fix anything. Apart from the conducted interviews, copious

of secondary data was gathered. This information comprises yearly reports from publicly traded hearing aid makers, marketing materials including case studies and white papers on 3D printing of hearing aid shell.This part explains how the hearing aid sector embraced 3D printing. First, there is a background for an industry. Then a quick synopsis of shell fabrication

For hearing aids is given The subsections that follow address

hearing aid consists basically in the following parts: One can categorize an electronic signal processor, a microphone, a battery and a loudsping assist as either Often much beyond 60 percent (GN Resoun), Behind-the- Ear (BTE) olly is highly sought after in the business. Unlike some other technology devices, hearing aids have not seen sharp price cuts. On the other

hand, the average retail price rose by 67 percent 1994-2000 (Kochkin, 2002), far above the rate of inflation in most Western nations over this time. Among the factors driving price increases over time include low negotiating strength among end consumers, a strongly consolidated business, and technological developments. The sector has stayed R&D focused

the companies listed above spend between 5 and 9 percent of their turnover on Research and Development.Standard ITEs classify the Hearing Aids sector as steady and consolidated In-the-canal (ITC) technology can be used to explain this. Six main corporations dominate it combined, they account for a large share of the market (See table 1). Among these six

Conclution

players, three are Danish and five are European. Four of them are publicly listed, so more information about these companies has been accessible. Siemens Hearing Instruments is an anomaly since it just represents roughly one percent of turnover and comes from a bigger conglomerate.Currently the biggest makers of totally-inthe-canal (CIC) hearing aids,Phonak and Oticon are almost invisible to others. Though most of such work has been done

in the categories,instruments can be customized (Masters et al., 2006). Since these goods must be tailored to every patient's ear, 3D printing is mostly employed for ITE ones. Apart from conventional hearing aids, the market for cochlear implants is somewhat different and unaffected by 3D printing has been a major obstacle for producers of hearing aids throughout years. The limited space affects batteries, but it also illustrates how the hearing aid sector