Um exemplo do potencial de revolução na cadeia de fornecimento de certos clusters

Daqui "Rolls-Royce plans 3D printing for jet engine parts":

“3D printing opens up new possibilities, new design space,” Dr Wapenhans told a round-table for journalists in Dahlewitz, outside Berlin. “Through the 3D printing process, you’re not constrained [by] having to get a tool in to create a shape. You can create any shape you like.” (Moi ici: Mongo rules!!! Diversidade, diversidade, diversidade!!!)
The Rolls-Royce executive said the technology could be used to reduce the weight of parts such as brackets.
He said: “There are studies that show one can create better lightweight structures, because you just take the analogy of what nature does and how bones are built up – they’re not solid material.
“And so things that are simple things like brackets can be made a lot lighter.”
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General Electric said recently that the company plans to expand the use of 3D printing, including creating fuel nozzles for jet engines.
Last year GE Aviation acquired two privately held companies in Cincinnati which specialise in 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing.
Companies such as Siemens and BMW are among those developing applications for additive manufacturing.
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Dr Wapenhans said that use of 3D printing would enable Rolls-Royce to slash lead times. The company would gain an “inventory advantage,” with less need to store parts, he noted.
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“Even if it takes, you know, a week to print, that’s still a lot faster.”
Sales of 3D printers and related services rose to $2.2bn last year, and are estimated to rise to about $6bn annually by 2017, according to a forecast from consultancy Wohlers Associates."