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As always, I believe the technology will go toward wherever people's interests and willingness to pay lie, barring any physical impossibilities. I don't see any impossibilities down the path to what's been stated thus far on this thread. It seems analogous to a desire for 12 megapixel camera resolution (a resolution that would allow photographers confidently to abandon most legacy film designs) that started out twenty years ago as 640x480. We're now at something analogous to the 640x480 camera resolution in the 3d printer realm, IMHO.

Agreed. Technological changes are occurring rapidly in areas of 3D Printing and digital photography that will have untold impacts in the area of manufacturing. Add to this the research and the impact that DARPA is involved in when it comes to textiles:

DARPA issues robot challenge to clothing imports

Manufacturing will come back to the US. Sadly our cultural and educational development has lagged far behind the technological changes. This will create untold societal upheaval.

Ya know, DARPA does have a real interest in this. Imagine a supply chain that instead of moving finished goods to the front lines could just move raw materials and manufacture whatever they needed within minutes and yards of use.