BANGALORE: On August 14 this year, Maltesh Somasekarappa received a call from one of the largest hospital chains in Mumbai. The caller, a doctor, sounded impatient and demanded how soon Somasekarappa, who heads Wipro’s 3D printing unit, could make a human skull.The doctor explained that the hospital was looking to replace a portion of a patient’s fractured skull after a car accident. The patient could slip into coma any moment if not operated upon immediately, the doctor stressed.“How early can you do it?” the doctor asked again. The hospital then emailed skull scans and other specifications for Somasekarappa to “print it out”. Somasekarappa, who had recently convinced the top bosses at Wipro to invest in an additive manufacturing unit with a 3D printer that cost around $1 million (Rs 6 crore), asked his four-member team to assemble and being work so as to ensure that the titanium replacement skull was ready within hours.“By lunch on August 15, we were ready to ship the skull,” he said, “but the patient slipped into coma and is still not in a condition to be operated upon.” Interestingly, printing skulls is not the core part of Wipro’s fledgling 3D printing business, which is now printing objects ranging from satellite antennas to parts of hydraulic pumps and even fuel nozzles for airline engines.For Wipro, these early investments in additive manufacturing (next-generation manufacturing that involves 3D printing) are aimed at transforming its traditional hydraulics business, and at the same time finding an alternative revenue stream.Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing uses an automated process that can create the units in one metal piece through successive layering of materials. Globally, GE, Nike, Boeing, Siemens and Rolls-Royce are some of the early adopters of 3D printing, making it an over-$6 billion (Rs 36,000-crore) industry in three years, according to a report by consulting company Wohlers Associates. According to research firm Gartner, over 14,000 units of 3D printers will be shipped across the markets of Asia Pacific by 2017.The big driver for Wipro, according to Pratik Kumar who heads Wipro’s infrastructure business, was that most of his existing customers appeared interested in 3D.“We were seeing at least 25-30 new product launches from our customers every year: they needed prototyping and iterations on the go,” said Kumar. Most of these customers are in the aerospace, defence and healthcare segments where the stakes are high for each new product launch.Indeed, when Wipro incubated its 3D printing division last year, the idea was to tap into a small but fast-growing market for printing machine parts used by aerospace and defence companies. Healthcare was not at all in the plan. The possibilities, it now seems, are only limited by imagination, the challenge being not to dilute from the core areas.“Initially, there was a temptation to get into the retail side of 3D printing, but we realised it could be a distraction,” said Kumar. So far, the company has invested around $2 million (Rs 12 crore) in the 3D printing plant with just one printer, and the early results seem to be encouraging.The early customers include Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which is taking Wipro’s help for 3D printing Vane Guides — machine parts that go into the combustion chamber of the engines, and even a two-wheeler maker that wants Wipro to help with manufacturing some parts as it prepares to relocate its plants. Wipro declined to elaborate specific work being done for clients, including the engagement with old-time partner General Electric, which according to several people is already running pilots to print fuel nozzles. Globally, GE is looking for ways to manufacture around 85,000 fuel nozzles for its new leap jet engines. And 3D printing is at the core of this hunt. At a time Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing to create more manufacturing jobs through “Make in India” campaign, Wipro believes the country needs to embrace next-generation technologies, and not just compete on low-end projects.“Any economy cannot leapfrog by missing the manufacturing bus — this (additive manufacturing) is our opportunity to catch up, especially given our design skills,” said Kumar. Wipro’s partner, Singaporebased EOS, which specialises in additive manufacturing and has even sold its 3D printer to Wipro, said India is best-positioned for this. “Some studies show that globally at least 30% of the products designed in the world are designed by Indians; however this has not translated to manufacturing in India,” said Terrence Oh, vice-president, EOS Asia Pacific Operations.To be sure, 3D printing cannot match conventional manufacturing in scale, and most of the nextgeneration manufacturing is still focused on fewer units (in hundreds or thousands and not millions of units). But in the areas of defence, aviation and healthcare, companies such as Wipro are hoping to produce high-quality machines without having to wait for “economies of scale” advantage. “Will this be a billion-dollar business someday? Of course, we would like it to be. But for now, the focus is on scaling what we currently have to 4-5-10 times,” said Kumar.