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Business: 3D printing: Print my ride
商業：3D打?。捍蛴∥业淖{
A mass-market carmaker starts customising vehicles individually.
大眾化生產商開啟汽車定制新時代。
Another milestone has been passed in the adoption of additive manufacturing, popularly known as 3D printing.
積層制造即3D打印再創里程碑。
Daihatsu, a Japanese manufacturer of small cars and a subsidiary of Toyota, an industry giant, announced on June 20th that it would begin offering car buyers the opportunity to customise their vehicles with 3D-printed parts.
6月20日，行業巨頭日本豐田汽車的子公司，小型汽車制造巨頭大發宣布將為客戶提供3D打印零件定制服務。
This brings to drivers with more modest budgets the kind of individual tailoring of vehicles hitherto restricted to the luxury limousines and sports cars of the super-rich.
這項服務使得預算有限的車主也能像擁有奢華轎車及跑車的巨富們一樣定制自己的汽車。
The service is available only to buyers of the Daihatsu Copen, a tiny convertible two-seater.
不過這項服務僅適用于小型雙座敞篷跑車大發Copen。
Customers ordering this car from their local dealer can choose one of 15 “effect skins”, decorative panels embellished with intricate patterns in ten different colours.
公司將十種不同顏色的復雜圖案點綴在板金上，設計出15種“外觀皮膚”，在當地經銷商處訂購Copen車型的消費者可以從中任選一種。
The buyers can then use a website to tinker with the designs further to create exactly the look they want.
他們還可以在網上進一步完善該設計，以達到他們想要的效果。
The skins are printed in a thermoplastic material using additive-manufacturing machines from Stratasys, an American company.
通過采用美國公司Stratasys的積層制造設備，這些皮膚可被打印在熱塑性材料上。
The results are then stuck on the front and rear body panels.
然后打印好的成品會被貼在車身前后部位。
Copen buyers will like selecting unique add-ons rather than choosing from a list of standard accessories, reckons Osamu Fujishita of Daihatsu.
大發的Osamu Fujishita認為，相比于在一系列標準化的配飾中挑挑揀揀，Copen車型的買家更樂意挑選獨一無二的配飾。
The company is testing the service in a few markets but plans to make it widely available by early 2017.
目前這項定制服務只在部分市場試運行，但公司計劃于2017年初廣泛開展這項業務。
“I think the Copen project is just the start,” adds Mr Fujishita.
Fujishita先生補充說：“我認為Copen計劃只是個開始?！?/div>
Other carmakers are watching closely.
其他汽車生產商也在密切關注此項服務。
Generally, personal customisation is available only where money is no object—on cars such as Rolls-Royces and Ferraris.
一般來說，個人定制僅面向買得起勞斯萊斯、法拉利的不差錢的買家。
But 3D printers change the economics of production.
但是3D打印機改變了這一生產的經濟運作機制。
Since software, rather than skilled craftsmen working in wood or metal, is behind the process, changes can be made easily and cheaply; traditional machine tools used in mass-production factories make design alterations expensive and slow.
因為3D打印是由軟件操作整個過程，無需能工巧匠在木板或者金屬板上作業，所以更改設計簡單又廉價；反之，用于大批量生產工廠的傳統機床使得設計變更，既昂貴又費時。
And 3D printing saves on retooling costs to make small runs of parts (and spares if they suffer damage later) .
除此之外，3D打印還可以節省制作小批量部件（以及之后遇損的替換備件）的工具更換成本。
The aerospace industry is already well advanced in using 3D printers for custom parts.
航空航天工業早已開始使用3D打印機來定制配件了。
Airlines often specify customised fittings for the interiors of their aircraft; Airbus prints internal cabin fittings for some variants of its new A350XWB commercial jet, for instance.
航空公司經常為他們的飛機內部指定定制化配件。例如，空中客車公司的新型A350XWB商用飛機各變體的機艙內部配件就是打印的。
Specialised parts are 3D-printed for racing cars too, but until Daihatsu’s move, mainstream carmakers have mainly used 3D machines to make prototype vehicles rather than production parts.
賽車也使用了3D打印的專門配件，但是在大發公司實施這一舉措之前，主流的汽車制造商還是主要將3D打印機用于制造原型車，而非生產部件。
Local Motors, a tiny Arizona company, shows where things may head next.
亞利桑那州的一家小公司洛克汽車公司 展示了3D打印的前景。
It prints substantial parts for a variety of vehicles using “large-area” 3D printers that can cope with bigger jobs than standard machines.
它使用比起標準機械更能適應大量生產的“大面積”3D打印機，為各類車型印制了大量部件。
Local Motors prints cars using a blend of plastic and lightweight carbon fibre.
洛克汽車公司使用塑料和輕量級碳纖維的混合材料來打印汽車。
One of its vehicles, the LM3D roadster, is 75% printed.
其生產的LM3D敞篷小跑有75%都是打印出來的。
The firm’s latest creation is an autonomous electric minibus which can carry 12 passengers.
這家公司的最新發明是一款可以容納12位乘客的無人駕駛電動小巴。
Local Motors reckons that the use of 3D printing will make it possible to produce vehicles to individual designs in microfactories anywhere in the world to cater to local motoring tastes.
洛克汽車公司稱，3D打印將使世界上任何一家微型工廠都可以生產私人定制的汽車來迎合當地汽車市場需要。
This would represent a return to an earlier age of motoring when coach builders would be engaged to design and fabricate bespoke bodies for Bugattis, Duesenbergs or Rollers.
這也代表著我們會像汽車時代早期一樣，長途汽車制造商將重新參與到布加迪、杜森博格、勞斯萊斯等定制車身的設計和制造中去。
The wheel is turning back.
歷史的車輪正在回轉。
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