Digital manufacturing - Napster fabbing: Internet delivery of physical products

Abstract

Digital manufacturing is performed by a family of modern technologies that capture, transmit, and manifest 3D digital descriptions of physical products. The central technology is the digital fabricator or fabber, also called a 3D printer. This paper looks at fabbing, digital fabricating of physical products and its future in the business world via the Internet. It is emphasized that this process is here to stay and therefore technology needs to become more sophisticated to accommodate it.