3D Printing Zimbabwe

If I told you about 3D printing in Zimbabwe 12 years ago you could have looked at me crazy. It would have made more sense as something from a science fiction movie than actual reality. 

Is there 3D printing in Zimbabwe

Lafarge the cement and construction company owned by Holcim is one of the companies at the forefront in the use of 3D printing technology. They are pushing for the use of 3D printing in the building of low-cost houses. Some prototypes were built in Malawi. 

One was a house and the other a school which took 15 and 18 hours respectively to construct. Lafarge is partnering with 14 Tree, another construction company, to build affordable houses. Zimbabwe may be one of the African forerunners using this technology.

How Does 3d Printing Work?

3D printers use ink to print a three-dimensional object from a digitally generated model. The ink can be in form of heated plastic or metal or sand and cement. It all depends on what is being printed and what kind of printer is being used. The 3D printer uses a nozzle to print out the model into physical form. The process is usually ten or more times faster than it would normally take to build that object any other way. 

3D printing is groundbreaking emerging technology. It is not something happening in struggling countries but it is a worldwide trend. Dubai’s vision 2025 includes building a smart city. About 25% of the smart city will be constructed by using 3D printing technology. 

Besides printing buildings and shoes some companies are printing prosthetic limbs, rocket parts, airplane parts, and any other thing you can imagine. Airbus made some plane parts using 3D printing and they proved to be as strong as the traditionally built parts yet much lighter. 

Some reports say that 3D printing is going to transform the future of the supply chain. A lot of things are going to be built faster and cheaper. 3D printing also eliminates the wasting of materials. Any excess materials left over after printing are recycled and used for future projects. 

Some big companies are thinking of ways to come up with an entire production line where different components of a product are printed then eventually put together. At this stage, 3D printing is coming in to complement existing production techniques not to replace them completely. 

Hope For Our Local Production?

In Zimbabwe, we have seen our production dwindling over the last two decades. This exciting technology may just be what we need to start growing our production again. The possibilities are limitless. There are a few companies locally that have started using 3D printers for different needs. Consumer-grade printers are retailing at USD$5 000 while industrial ones can cost up to USD$1 million. Those price tags can be a bit too steep for smaller guys trying to get into this sector. This calls for policymakers and import specialists to find ways of encouraging investment from outside Zimbabwe.