Chinese 3D-Printing Companies Are Beating the US at Its Own Game. I’m Equally Impressed and Unnerved

A quarter century ago, I was a fledgling engineer at an automated sewing machinery company, sitting alongside the owner at the office. A version of our bread-and-butter machine—a heavy-duty overlock sewing system with a unique Power-Trac material puller—had just appeared in Chinese ads, sold across Europe and Asia for less than half the price of our American-built unit. The owner stared at side-by-side photos, pointing out the details the Chinese hadn’t yet mastered….