3D printing provides fast, practical fixes.

• Author: Parsons, Dan
• Position: Inside Science + Technology

* While on patrol, soldiers in Afghanistan realized they had a problem with their flashlights: A protruding power button was prone to being accidentally pressed, which at worst could give away their position at night. At any rate, their batteries were wearing down without their knowledge.

Ordinarily, the process to replace the flashlight would take months, if not years. The current design would have to be decommissioned, then the search for a new design would begin, resulting in a competition, testing, a contract award and finally a purchase and fielding.

Instead, engineers sitting in a shipping container in Afghanistan devised a solution in a matter of hours. Using 3D printers, scientists deployed with the Army Rapid Equipping Force's Expeditionary Lab Mobile--ELM for short--produced a plastic guard that clips over the end of the flashlight, preventing accidental activation of the power switch.

While most 3D printing applications have been whimsical rather than practical--enthusiasts have made flutes, animal skeletons, prototypes for engine parts and action figures, among other kitschy items--the Army's mobile lab is producing real-world objects that are saving lives in war zones.

The industry is maturing, and various manufacturing companies are daily discovering innovative uses for 3D printing technology.

President Obama has launched an initiative to establish "additive manufacturing" centers that will explore 3D printing with government funding. The effort was featured prominently in his 2013 State of the Union address.

"Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything," Obama said.

The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute was formed "to accelerate additive manufacturing innovation by bridging that critical gap between basic research and mature development work," the institute's website says.

Already, the technology is being used in surprising--sometimes controversial--ways. Functional gun parts and ammunition magazines have been produced with small 3D printers that private citizens can own. There is no indication that the U.S. military plans to explore printing weapons. But NASA astronauts could one day eat 3D printed food in space, according to reports.

Oxford Performance Materials, producer of biomedical...