Diegel, O2011-08-182011-08-182011201112th Rapid Design, Prototyping and Manufacturing Conference (RDPM 2011), Lancaster University, Lancaster, UKhttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/1755It has been speculated that, in the near future, additive manufacturing will begin to have a marked effect on how we order and manufacture products. When one examines some of the implications of AM more closely, it can be concluded that it could, in fact, have a major Impact not just on products, but on our society, and how we live and do business. This paper briefly covers the state of the art in AM with a particular emphasis on where the technologies are heading, and then examines some of the issues that will need to be grappled with as additive manufacturing comes of age… within the next few decades…NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in (see Citation). The original publication is available at (see Publisher's Version)Additive manufacturingFuture focused manufacturing technologiesConference ContributionOpenAccess