Brooklyn Navy Yard leads 3-D printing movement
Manufacturing is coming back to New York, but not in a shape anyone’s seen before. And it’s in the Brooklyn Navy Yard where a lot of the new-age 3D printing innovation is taking place.
Where warships were once built to supply the Arsenal of Democracy, there’s a “New Lab,” which serves as a collaborative workspace for designers, engineers and 3-D printers. The movement to take 3-D printing into the mainstream has found a home in one of the most expensive cities in the country.
New York’s factories used to build battleships, stitch clothing and refine sugar, but those industries have largely departed. In recent years, manufacturing has been leaving the U.S. altogether. But 3-D printing is a different kind of industry, one that doesn’t require large machinery or smokestacks.