Today, however, bespoke craftsmanship is making a comeback, thanks to 3D printing or "additive manufacturing", in which a three-dimensional object is built layer by layer.
Throughout its history, additive manufacturing in general has gone by various names: stereolithography, 3-D layering and 3-D printing.
Since 1980 there has been major progress in miniaturization, nanotechnology, materials science, and additive manufacturing.
Lasers of up to 400 W are used for selective laser melting of metals in additive layered manufacturing.
Materialise NV, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, is active in the field of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D Printing.
I do not know about its use in candy manufacturing first hand, but would not be surprised to find that it is used, again as a manufacturing additive.
In November 2011, researchers used ink-jet printing (additive manufacturing) as a method for fabricating graphene devices.
Compared with other methods of additive manufacturing, SLS can produce parts from a relatively wide range of commercially available powder materials.
Electron beam melting (EBM) is a type of additive manufacturing for metal parts.
The use of "additive manufacturing", where layers of material are built up, or "printed" to form a solid objects, contributed to the car's green credentials, according to project leader Jim Kor.