3D printing, also referred to as additive manufacturing, works by printing successive layers of material (plastic or ceramic for example) until the final part is created. 3D printers can print shapes that cannot be formed with traditional methods. While some firms are already using 3-D printers for prototyping and production parts in single quantities, others are just beginning to see the benefits of on-demand printing.

​In traditional manufacturing, a part is designed, and then molds are created from that design for producing parts. The required number of parts are molded and assembled into a final product. At each step in the process, a significant amount of time and money can be lost if changes need to be made to the design.

As a result, most manufacturers have a standard set of molds that can be used for certain items, with extra time and money spent creating new molds as necessary. This process is referred to as 'tooling.' 3D printing, however, can significantly reduce or eliminate tooling costs because each part is printed only after it's ordered.