Some say it's already here. Digital disruption is "everywhere but operating at different speeds," said Angus Dawson, who leads McKinsey & Co.'s Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice across Asia. “The fact that disruption is happening at different speeds for different industries shouldn’t lead those industries where it’s happening slower to assume it’s not happening.”

The full potential impact of 3DP is still a flyspeck on the radar screens of the global logistics community – most executives and managers know a little about the technology but are not aware that it represents a disruptive game changer to their business models.

Thomas Bek, global manager of oil, gas and industrial projects at Blue Water Shipping, a global heavy-lift logistics and transport services provider, says: “We use a lot of 3D visualization to plan our equipment moves … but the long-term implications of 3D printing technology are something we have not really focused on.”

Says logistics consultant Skip Grindall, who recently retired as vice president of mining logistics at C.H. Robinson: “The implications of 3D printing for the logistics industry is not something I can recall ever being discussed as a potential game-changer.”

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