How much does printing cost at staples?

Will 3D printing enable the US to compete with low cost Chinese factories?

• As 3D printing comes down in price and supports a broader range of materials and target products will factories in China become less competitive compared to manufacturing in the US? Will the immediacy and customization potential of 3D printing enable  it to be competitive even before it reaches cost parity? Which products/industries will become competitive first? Just to be clear I am not talking about home 3D printers.  But rather am referring to industrial scale 3D printing centers that could be in major population centers to enable just-in-time delivery and rapid design changes but which would still have economies of scale relative to home printers. This is a follow up to the question

• Answer:

  For many industries: Considering that China and other emerging markets would have the same access to these printers, the same factors would be taken into account. The reason Chinese goods are cheaper is due to the cost of labor, not the cost of intermediate goods; which such industrial printers may or may not be able to produce more cost effectively. Assuming Chinese companies would purchase such printers if they provided higher profits, the cost of labor would still remain lower due to standards of living, decreased compliance, regulation, etc.   The case could also be be made that the yuan is undervalued.   On the topic of simple intermediate goods (such as nails or other items requiring very little assembly), it is totally possible that such markets, many of them in countries such as China, would be be completely priced out. As even if the cost of labor itself was comparable, transportation would then likely become the defining cost. If such intermediate goods could simply be printed in-house, the market for them would disappear.