Can you imagine 3D printing technology can print anything include shoes? 3D printing is one of the innovative technology recently. In Year 2013, Nike got ahead of the rest of the footwear world as the first company to release a shoe with 3D Printed Components.
3D Printing has revolutionized the way Nike designs and manufactures footwear, allowing designers to make updates within hours, instead of months, to truly accelerate the innovation process. For the newest launching of 3D printing shoes in Year 2013 of “Vapor Laser Talon” didn’t simply use 3D printing for prototyping purposes, but incorporated a 3D printed plate into the final product.
In Year 2014, the company is making headlines again with their updated football cleat, the Vapor Carbon Elite, which will make its debut at Super Bowl 48. Nike turned to the high-tech tool to speed up the design process.
“With 3D printing you can have an idea, sketch it out, 3D model it, and by the next day you come to the office and you have a part.” Nike Director of Innovation Shane Kohatsu.
Using the 3D printers drastically changed the pace of testing the prototypes. Kohatsu said it might have taken three years to complete this project using the traditional method of injection molding, which requires building molds, filling them with molten plastic, and waiting for them to set. Under that system it took months to make the slightest tweaks, because the entire process had to be repeated with each redesign.
With 3D printers, those tweaks can be done in hours.
