3D printing is identified to cost-effectively lower manufacturing inputs and outputs in markets with low volume, customized and high-value production chains, such as aerospace and medical component manufacturing. 3D printing has the potential to significantly lower life cycle energy demands of goods and their CO2 emissions. Moreover, Additive manufacturing will overturn many of the economics of production as it pays no heed to unit labour costs or traditional economies of scale. Advances in technology are yielding faster print times and enabling objects to be printed in greater combinations of materials, colors and finishes. Industries are nowadays at the inflection point for 3D printing. It has now moved from a new and much-hyped, but largely unproven, manufacturing process to a technology with the ability to produce real, innovative, complex and robust products.