Cost curves across common manufacturing processes showing how unit economics change with production volume.

One interesting dynamic: some 3D printing farms built just a few years ago are already becoming obsolete as older machines struggle to compete with the new generation of printers. As one operator puts it:

“Instead of ordering prints, companies gradually started buying their own 3D printers and producing parts in-house. The economics of those decisions were merciless for us. In the end, outsourcing those 3D prints to us simply stopped making sense - it just wasn’t profitable. For them, and for us as well.”