3D printing making inroads in China

BEIJING - The hype over 3D printing seems to be changing into reality for China.

This year, 3D-printed models will be used to coordinate elaborate flower displays on Tian'anmen Square for National Day celebrations for the first time.

Using the technology, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry will create prototypes to assist in visualizing intricate floral arrangements planned for the National Day celebrations on Oct 1.

Floral arrays will be designed by computer. Descriptions of different flowerbed layers will then be sent to a 3D printer where miniature versions are created and arranged according to the computer modeling.

The main parterre will measure 50 meters wide and 15 meters high, according to the bureau.

Last month, Chinese doctors rebuilt part of a man's skull with 3D printing technology. Also in August, surgeons at Peking University Third Hospital successfully performed China's first spinal surgery with the help of a 3D printed vertebrae.

Liu Zhongjun, the surgeon who performed the procedure, said the customized 3D printing technology made the disc replacement stronger and more convenient than normal procedures.

Spurred by the market, medical device companies are getting into the game. Beijing-based Advanced Medical Technologies has developed a 3D printed intravascular stent, which is made of a macromolecular compound and can reduce side effects caused by metal-made stents.

The company's founder and president Liu Qing said he believes that in 10 to 15 years, human organs can also be manufactured this way.

"If human organs can be replicated on the basis of the patient's stem cells, immunological reaction can be contained," said Liu.

Meanwhile, the technology has reached other aspects of life.

Idiscover, a private company in northeast China's Jilin province, has been providing parts of dashboards and gearboxes to state-owned car maker FAW Group Corporation.

Another company in Shanghai has printed ten full-size houses using a huge 3D printer within a day, attracting scores of visitors to the printing site.

Enthusiastic about the future of the industry, China established its first 3D printing technology innovation center in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu province. Cities including Wuhan in Hubei province, Qingdao in Shandong province are also considering plans of such a center.

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