SmarTech Analysis Archives - Perfect 3D Printing Filament

Challenges Face Metal 3D Printing Powder Suppliers in 2020

Most AM companies which report public information noted during their Q1 releases that they expected Q2 to be much more heavily impacted by COVID-19. They weren’t wrong. Shutdowns and uncertainties didn’t actually hit Western firms until March. But it’s no secret that the metal additive manufacturing industry was already in the midst of tougher times throughout 2019 — we’ve written about it pretty extensively at SmarTech.

Most of the ongoing metal AM slump story involved hardware. Metal powder sales have remained excellent. Total shipments of powders for the year in 2019 grew an estimated 37 percent compared to 2018, to an estimated 2,650 tons shipped to AM users. SmarTech estimates that in the first quarter of 2019 alone -just three months -there was as much powder sold and shipped to users as there was in all of 2014 combined; about 550 tons!
Sales of powders have been driven by the relatively small community of AM power users which have reached serial production on certain components especially in aerospace, medical, and oil and gas. These successes include Stryker’s Tritanium product line, GE’s continued scale up of additive parts in its LEAP engines and gas turbines, Siemens gas turbine burners, and more. It has also been driven by several service providers.
Successful implementations of AM continue to drive powder sales. While signs of some commoditization of mainstream additive powders have begun to emerge, SmarTech believes that the AM powder market will be temporarily thrust to the forefront over the next year.
The metal additive material market is witnessing new dynamics never before seen in additive manufacturing. In 2020, diversity in materials for additive manufacturing has made significant strides compared to just five years ago. Though significant steps still are needed in this area, development of processing parameters for new additive metal powders can be a lengthy endeavor. For example, while there have historically been just four metals comprising the nickel and cobalt additive materials segment (a number which persisted for several years), today there are at least double that many alloys now offered by more than one large AM material supplier between these two major metals. Cobalt Alloy 188 and 509, as well as Nickel Alloy 230 and Inconel 738 are now widely available, to name a few.

In this PRO we show how the additive materials business has done well through the down turn, but may be about to hit its own little recession due to product maturity. Nonetheless, no supplier of metal additive manufacturing powder should worry too much. The long-term prospects for AM materials are encouraging.

(Feature image courtesy of Equispheres.)

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Metal Additive Market Reset. How Leading Metal AM Firms Will Weather the Economic Storm

First quarter 2020 market data continues to become available from the world’s leading additive manufacturing companies, shedding more light on how the economic fallout from the global pandemic is impacting the AM industry. Although interest in additive manufacturing has surged as a result of the supply chain interruptions, and some companies believe big opportunities are out there, most agree with SmarTech that it’s going to be a bumpy ride for the remainder of the year for metal additive companies.

Throughout 2019, the industry was already struggling as the pool of customers ready to scale up metal AM operations proved too small to support the relatively large number of suppliers who were lured in the market over the last few years hoping the impending boom in AM that never came. This combined with the current economic woes creating a round of industry consolidation. In 2016, GE shook up the industry by acquiring Concept Laser and Arcam out of identifying long term opportunities for metal AM. This may have been the start of something big.

Supply Chain Interruptions put Polymer 3D Printing Technologies Back on the Map, but What About Metals?

During the early stages of the pandemic in the United States, a number of primarily polymer 3D printing solutions were able to be put to use to provide a stopgap for production of a variety of critical parts. Metal technologies also were leveraged, but the applications for metals were longer term projects, such as development of advanced respirator filters, medical facility components made in antimicrobial metals, and other parts. As a result, the COVID crisis has done quite a bit to put polymer 3D printing technologies back into the media spotlight and demonstrate their use as a production tool under various circumstances. But where do metals find themselves in a post-COVID market?

Source: SmarTech Analysis Metal Additive Manufacturing Advisory Service.

The chart above highlights the “best case” scenario for Q1 2020 metal additive manufacturing market opportunities for hardware and materials based on the most current data SmarTech had at the time of writing this article.

Compared to 2019, metal AM hardware revenues declined 14 percent. However, by the time final data is collected for the quarter, it is likely that declines of 20 percent will be seen market-wide for metals.
Meanwhile, metal powder sales were not as heavily affected during Q1 but are much more likely to be impacted during Q2.

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AMFG Publishes Additive Manufacturing Landscape Report 2020: Breaking Down the Industry and Looking at the Future

Today, London-based company AMFG, which provides MES and workflow software for industrial additive manufacturing (AM) that helps companies streamline and manage their production workflows, has released the second edition of its annual Additive Manufacturing Landscape report and infographic. Since the first report was published in April of 2019, there have been some big changes in the AM industry, including new materials and technologies, investors and companies, and new applications – all of which are strong indicators that the sector is continuing to move towards greater industrialization.

“While the start of 2020 has ushered much uncertainty globally, the progress within the 3D printing industry shows no signs of slowing down,” said Keyvan Karimi, the CEO of AMFG. “In these extraordinary times, we are witnessing the continued maturation of 3D printing into an industrialised technology, driving digital transformation.”

The Additive Manufacturing Landscape 2020 edition provides some very important insights into the current AM market, breaking down the current landscape of the technology and providing industry stakeholders and manufacturing companies with some meaningful and shrewd observations regarding the trends that are molding the industry, both this year and into the future.

“In a time of global need, 3D printing is playing a key role in demonstrating its ability to respond to the need for on-demand production and help alleviate supply chain disruption,” the report’s Executive Summary states. “In addition to external factors, new players continue to enter the AM market, while acquisitions and partnerships continue to flurry across the industry.”

AMFG has customers across a range of industries in over 25 countries, and, so, has a breadth of experience to draw from in compiling this report. A total of 231 organizations were included in the 2020 landscape’s infographic, shown above, with hardware, materials, post-processing, and materials companies all included. However, as this report focuses on the industrial side of the industry, consumer 3D printing companies were not included.

The report, running 27 pages, breaks down the 2020 AM landscape, stating that the major “several factors driving the industry’s growth” include users focusing on establishing clear AM applications and the fact that the technology is now part of the broader trend of digitization in the manufacturing world. It also offers a look at the trends expected to come in 2021, and discusses some of the many milestones that occurred in 2019, such as:

the launch of Jabil’s Materials Innovation Center
the announcement that Orbex had produced the largest single-piece metal rocket engine
the new 5200 series of HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers
Carbon’s major investments
Angel Trains and Stratasys partnering to 3D print components for passenger trains
the collaboration between Made In Space and CELLINK to develop bioprinting technology for space.

HP’s industrial Jet Fusion 5200 Series 3D Printing Solution (Image: HP)

The white paper covers insights regarding the major segments within the industry, with an entire section just for AM service providers and online platforms. Additive Manufacturing Landscape 2020 takes a look at the rate of 3D printing adoption all over the world, from North America and the Asia-Pacific region to Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and features some expert observations from Joseph Crabtree, the CEO of Additive Manufacturing Technologies and Scott Dunham, the Vice President of Research at SmarTech Analysis.

Scott Dunham at Additive Manufacturing Strategies 2020 (Photo: Sarah Saunders for 3DPrint.com)

“Based on our tracking and models, 2019 was the lowest growth total across the board of any year since I started providing consulting and research services to the additive community back in 2012,” Dunham said. “But while I don’t anticipate that any markets will be totally immune from the litany of negative impacts of COVID-19, I can see much of the additive manufacturing market actually coming out of this for the better.”

Some of the major points that the report makes include that the industry’s largest segment is metal machines, which make up 22.5 percent of the overall AM landscape, and hardware, at 56 percent, is the largest category. This category has a new segment this year in composite 3D printers, which are often niche, but have the potential to grow into a more profitable market.

Additionally, the white paper states that an estimated $1.1 billion worth of investments were made last year in 77 early-stage AM companies, with 3D printer manufacturers receiving the largest piece of the funding pie. Another important point stated in the report is that connectivity and collaboration will continue to be vital in helping the fragmented additive manufacturing industry consolidate into a more unified front.

To learn more, you can check out the entire Additive Manufacturing Landscape 2020 here, and you can also find a link to the report on our White Paper page.

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SmarTech Analysis: Over 1.4 Million Kg of AM Copper Powders to Ship by 2029

SmarTech Analysis has published its most recent report on the copper additive manufacturing (AM) market, “Copper Additive Manufacturing 2020–Market Database and Outlook,” projecting that the segment is growing at a rapid pace. By 2029, we estimate that over 1.4 million kilograms of copper powder, both pure copper and copper alloys, will ship for AM use.

The report is made up of two parts: a market analysis of the copper AM sector and a database forecasting the copper AM segment throughout numerous subsegments and broken out in multiple ways across a 15-year projection period from 2014 to 2029. This includes estimates of how much copper powder (pure and alloy) each metal AM technology family has consumed in the past, does and will consume in the present and future in a range of verticals and geographical regions.

For instance, SmarTech has concluded that copper AM adoption will expand rapidly from now until 2029 at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 43 percent, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. And, while the copper 3D printing market is relatively small compared to titanium, it will represent an increasingly large chunk of the broader copper market.

We also anticipate that the total sales of copper AM systems will grow by 34 percent through to 2029, which will introduce opportunities for copper powder sales across all metal 3D printing families. In particular, powder bed fusion (PBF) and bound metal printing will represent the largest revenue opportunities, though directed energy deposition will also increase its market share, despite its comparatively small size.

Part of the reason for copper AM’s rapid growth is attributed to improvements in copper 3D printing processes and materials. We know that metal PBF technologies are making advances in the processing of pure copper and copper alloys and that these materials themselves are being formulated in ways that make it easier for PBF systems to 3D print with them. This is demonstrated by work by Trumpf, which is now being expanded via a partnership with Heraeus AMLOY. Additionally, bound metal printing technologies are proving themselves to be increasingly capable of 3D printing copper parts, exemplified by recent news from Markforged.

As far as applications are concerned, the industry is proving valuable the use of copper 3D printing for the production of induction coils—now offered by a variety of service bureaus, including GKN Additive, Phoenix Contact, and GH Induction—and heat transfer components, such as heat exchangers and rocket propulsion parts.

Interestingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the niche potential of copper 3D printing for producing antimicrobial parts. The report discusses the rise of copper 3D printing for medical applications, including some of the stories that we’ve discussed during our coverage of the disease, such as copper door plates and handles by SPEE3D, antimicrobial filament from Copper3D and reusable copper filters 3D-printed by ExOne.

The report examines the current states of copper 3D printing, across all of the major metal AM technology families. Each present specific obstacles for processing the material using established AM system configurations, due to the metal’s physical characteristics, but each also present unique opportunities.

In addition to the analysis found in the report, the accompanying database has the unique feature of being easily integrated into existing internal market intelligence resources. SmarTech describes it well as an “off-the-shelf resource for market metrics and forecasts,” in that, while the report provides context for the database, the database is a versatile tool for providing actionable intelligence across business units.

Among the companies discussed in the report are EOS, Formalloy, Sandvik, Praxair Surface Technologies, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, 3T and FIT AG, as well as others already mentioned here.

To learn more about the report and database, view its table of contents, or purchase the two-part resource, visit the SmarTech website.

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Scott Dunham: SmarTech Industry Forecasts for Metal and Medical/Dental 3D Printing

The 2020 Additive Manufacturing Strategies (AMS) event ended earlier this week in Boston. The summit was focused on the business of 3D printing in medical, dental, and metals, so it makes sense that Scott Dunham, the Vice President of Research at SmarTech Analysis, was on hand to give everyone a sense of where we are in these industries, just like at last year’s AMS. SmarTech provides the additive manufacturing industry with industry analysis reports and consulting services, and Dunham began with the company’s metal additive quarterly advisory services. These reports are compiled using data from 10-12 consecutive quarters.

Dunham noted that the messaging and adoption rates have changed for metal AM, and that while we’re all still “working towards the same goals,” we are “drilling down to specific solutions and challenges.”

“Metal additive manufacturing is in a strange place right now,” he said. “From 2016 to 2018, there was lots of hype, lots of investments and growth and attention paid, and the growth was aggressive and accelerated. But now, the past couple of years, we’re in this period where people are saying, ‘What’s happening? We though this technology was supposed to revolutionize things.’ Growth rates don’t always line up with perceptions.”

He got into some of the specific factors that are going into the challenges the metal AM market is facing. There’s a large disparity between metal AM hardware and metal powder sales, which Dunham said tells us that metal 3D printers are viewed much differently than the machine tool systems to which people compare them.

“Right now, the machines are not viewed or utilized in the same way that other popular manufacturing tools are, so people are still looking at this as a longer-term opportunity that still needs development work and may not necessarily always be the right tool for high-volume serial production,” he explained. ” Users now understand they can’t just drop it on the shop floor like a CNC machine. This in some ways is a barrier to growth. There are still plenty of investments being made, though, but maybe we don’t expect those days to last forever now. We may be ending the phase of early adopters and innovators who want to make these investments.”

In the years 2014-2016, the sale of metal machines was averaging just below 30%, then climbed up closer to even, but are now dropping again a bit. According to SmarTech, non-metal 3D printers are still generating most of the hardware sales, but Dunham said we should see more of a 50/50 split into the mid 2020s.

SmarTech has a theory that this leapfrog effect is due to the current two-tiered market scenario. The advanced market focuses on serial applications and high-volume production, while the legacy market consists of applications that have around for a long time, maybe resembling a factory floor, such as injection molding and tool inserts, jigs and fixtures, prototyping or limited series, medical and dental models, and one-off high volume components. Dunham said these markets are both important, but that they each have a “different set of considerations.”

He pointed out that this advanced market will soon grow to over $4 billion worth of AM hardware sold.

“We consider this side of things a little bit further ahead of polymer machine sales,” Dunham explained. “That’s why there’s so much focus on metals.”

So, where is all this growth in the metal AM market coming from? Dunham said that hardware sales is a “good indicator of the pulse of the industry,” and that SmarTech is seeing a lot of growth on what Dunham called “the fringes,” like some of the new companies coming up over the last few years, as well as the legacy manufacturing companies adopting the technology for the first time. He referred to the newer companies, such as Desktop Metal, HP, Markforged, Trumpf, and VELO3D, as “challengers,” while the legacy companies were called “incumbents.”

Next, he talked about metal 3D printing service bureaus, which see a global market of a little over $2 million.

“It’s a pretty big opportunity on the metals side, but not as big as we think it should be, or as big as polymer service bureaus,” Dunham said. “But the footprint of metal additive manufacturing in the healthcare industry is very important, and will continue to be so.”

Dunham pulled up a slide about powder bed fusion technology, noting that because the dental industry was so mature in terms of AM adoption, it actually skews the production data in the top two graphs

Bound metal processes, like binder jetting, are currently used often for tooling, and SmarTech forecasts that applications for this technology in prototyping and end-use components will rise. Dunham said that powder-based DED 3D printing is currently “heavily skewed” towards end-use components, in addition to prototyping, and that the “vision of this will likely not change much in the future.

Moving on to the market value of metal parts produced with 3D printing, Dunham said that this number is “hard to assign,” but that investments by end users are likely just south of $5 billion. However, there are lots of high-value parts to consider, which contributes to that number.

“By 2025, we expect that all metal 3D printed parts will exceed 20 billion,” he stated.

In terms of project applications for metal AM, healthcare leads the pack, with crown and bridge substructures and hip implant components at the top of the list. If you remove medical applications from the equation, we’re looking at using the technology to repair high-value turbine blades and aircraft parts, valves and pumps in the oil & gas & energy sector, and more medium-sized industrial components.

“If you’re a supplier in the industry, these are what will succeed,” Dunham said. “The incentive here is to invest in different approaches to metal additive manufacturing.”

Dunham summed everything up by saying that while metal AM is still demonstrating value, entry barriers, such as financial reasons, are also high, which does deter growth somewhat, and that a multidisciplinary approach to it is necessary for growth to continue.

Then I followed Dunham out and into the next room for the SmarTech medical 3D printing forecast, which was wisely titled “Healthcare – the Backbone of Additive Manufacturing.”

“Within the healthcare segment, there are many ways that AM has been and will continue to be leveraged,” he stated. “There are some very industrialized serial, serious manufacturing applications in healthcare, so emphasis is put on the customization of these devices.”

He noted AMS 2020 has a theme of looking at business cases, which is why it’s so heavily focused on dental and orthopedic 3D printing applications.

“We don’t think these are more impactful or important, but these are areas that we’re seeing more challenges and work here,” Dunham explained.

Excluding software numbers, the healthcare portion of the AM market – combining medical and dental applications – is a little over $3 billion dollars; truly, “the backbone of the industry.” These revenue numbers have gone down a bit, because there’s a lot of attention being paid to industrial markets, but Dunham said that SmarTech forecasts a stabilization, stating that healthcare will “continue to be important to overall industry structure for at least the next several years, and into decades.”

As has been previously mentioned, in comparison to other industries, dental is “fairly mature overall in its adoption of additive manufacturing.” If you’re looking at metal AM used in healthcare, you get into the orthopedic sector, which means you’re looking at implants.

“The longer that we can gather clinical evidence for these implants the better,” Dunham said, noting that this will help ‘build confidence’ with metal 3D printing in the medical field.

Some OEMs are bringing AM in-house, so that they can better control the process to try and ensure a good outcome. A lot of factors go into making medical implants, and if something goes wrong, “clinical efficacy is damaged.”

As of yet, there isn’t a huge push by OEMs for non-metal 3D printed implants, but SmarTech believes this is coming later, for materials like ceramics, and especially for craniomaxillofacial (CMF) implants.

There are plenty of business use cases for metal orthopedic 3D printed implants, and while the hip is still in the lead, about a third of 3D printed implants made now are are spinal. But Dunham said that hip implants won’t dominate the production numbers forever, as the 2025 forecast shows more diversification coming.

Moving to the dental side of things, companies are seeing a lot of success with high speed vat photopolymerization technologies, which Dunham said was expected. But what they didn’t count on was the aligner segment looking to get into powder bed fusion.

“No one process has everything locked down, and we can all benefit from more competition to push the technology forward,” he said.

Dunham said we should expect that 3D printing will ultimately follow the “trend of machines in dentist offices.”

“We expect a pretty healthy growth in investment by dental offices and clinics, though dental labs are still where it’s at from a hardware perspective.”

Dunham pulled up a slide that showed numbers from 2018, and forecast out to 2027, that show specifically what’s going to keep driving the sale of materials and hardware for dental applications. Looking at things like direct aligners and aligner tools, models, surgical guides, and denture bases and trays, it’s clear that he’s correct when he said that there is a lot of “diversification going on out there.”

Stay tuned to 3DPrint.com as we continue to bring you the news from our third annual AMS Summit.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

[Photos: Sarah Saunders]

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Early Bird Discount for AMS 2020, “The Business of 3D Printing,” Ends Tomorrow, February 5th

3DPrint.com and SmarTech Analysis will be holding the third annual Additive Manufacturing Strategies event next week, February 11th-12th, at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, Massachusetts. This year, AMS 2020 is titled “The Business of 3D Printing: Medicine, Dentistry and Metals,” and will be centered around 3D printing business practices and applications in both the medical and dental fields, as well as industries, such as automotive, which use metal often.

AMS 2019

Tomorrow, February 5th, is the last day for attendees to take advantage of the final Early Bird registration discount for this event. Full access to the entire Additive Manufacturing Strategies summit, which will include an exhibit hall, multiple keynote presentations, the annual Startup Competition, a networking reception, fireside chats, SmarTech’s forecasts on 3D printing for the medical and dental industries, and more, requires paid registration. You can attend the competition and stop in to visit the exhibit hall for free, but you’ll still need to register.

Members of the 3DPrint.Com and SmarTech Analysis teams will be present during the event to meet with other attendees, and more than 60 expert speakers will be on hand to share their expertise with us at AMS 2020 in panels, presentations, and fireside chats. About 30 exhibitors and sponsors, including Platinum Sponsor Global Advanced Metals and Gold Sponsor EOS, will be there as well.

While AMS traditionally covers 3D printing in the medical and dental fields, the metals track is new this year. In fact, SmarTech just released a new report on metal additive manufacturing service bureaus, which will be one of many topics addressed at AMS 2020 next week.

“This is SmarTech’s latest business assessment and market forecast of metal additive manufacturing services,” SmarTech writes about its report. “It updates our analysis and market projections and also extends the coverage to include a broader range of services and profiles of leading AM service firms. It also assesses the impact on the business of service bureaus on the changes that have occurred in end user industries and on the dramatic shift of AM to become a fully-fledged manufacturing process.”

Image: SmarTech Analysis

To gain full access to our AMS 2020 event, and receive the final Early Bird discount, you need to register by tomorrow, February 5th.

Discuss this news and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

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AMS 2020 Focusing on Business of 3D Printing in Medical, Dental, and Metals

In just a little over one week, 3DPrint.com and SmarTech Analysis will be holding our third annual Additive Manufacturing Strategies event. For the second year running, the summit will be taking place in Boston; the first AMS summit was held in Washington, DC in 2018. Titled “The Business of 3D Printing: Medicine, Dentistry and Metals,” AMS 2020 focuses on – you guessed it – 3D printing applications and business practices in the medical and dental fields, as well as industries that frequently use metal, such as aerospace. While the first two AMS events were also centered around medical and dental 3D printing, the metals track is a new one for the conference this year.

Over 60 expert speakers will be sharing their expertise with us at AMS 2020, focusing specifically on end-user experiences, regulatory perspectives, and the vendor and materials companies. Specific topics will include multilaser 3D printers, emerging trends for 3D printing in healthcare, 3D printed implants, hybrid metal and large-format 3D printers, 3D printing and modeling in surgical planning, the future of metals binder jetting, software and design for metal 3D printing, 3D printing in the aerospace and automotive sectors, materials for 3D printed dental applications, 3D bioprinting, and much more.

Members of both the 3DPrint.Com and SmarTech Analysis teams will be present over the two day event to meet with other attendees. In addition, Scott Dunham, the Vice President of Research for SmarTech Analysis, will offer forecasts on 3D printing in the medical and dental industries.

Scott Dunham at AMS 2019. Photograph taken by Sarah Saunders

AMS 2020 will also feature a networking reception, fireside chats, and the Startup Competition. OsseoPrint 3D was the winner of last year’s competition, for its platform technology for implantable, 3D printed, patient-specific bone scaffolds, and received a $15,000 cash investment from early stage venture fund Asimov Ventures. At this year’s competition, seven different contestants will compete against each other at 6:05 pm on February 11th.

Attendees can also visit the exhibit hall at the summit and speak with representatives from many different companies, including:

Additive Orthopaedics
Arburg
ASME
FibreTuff
nTopology
R&D Technologies
Tethon 3D

AMS 2019 exhibit hall. Photograph taken by Sarah Saunders

Coffee sponsors for this year’s event are 3D printing consultancy Blueprint and VELO3D, while EOS is a Gold Sponsor and Global Advanced Metals is a Platinum Sponsor. Media sponsors include Women in 3D Printing, 3DMedNet, 3DHeals, Inside 3D Printing, and more.

For free entrance to the exhibit hall and the startup competition, you will need to register ahead of time. To gain full access to the entire event, and receive the final Early Bird discount, register by February 5th. AMS 2020 will be held at the Seaport World Trade Center from February 11-12. We hope to see you there!

Discuss this news and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

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3DPOD Episode 15: The Ceramics 3D printing market: Davide Sher of SmarTech Analysis and 3D Printing Media Network

Davide Sher used to write extensively on 3D printing. Nowadays he runs his own media network in 3D printing and works for SmarTech Analysis. Davide looks at 3D printing from the outside in as a journalist and is always curious to learn more and find trends in the market. Through his media network he publishes 3D printing news stories and for SmarTech he crunches the data and interviews to come up with market reports. Davide wrote a ceramics 3D printing market report. In that report, he identifies key 3D printing trends in ceramics and estimates market size and growth. He also looks at emerging applications and players in 3D printed ceramics. Max and I spoke to him in order to find out more about the exciting area of 3D printed ceramics. Ceramics are extremely high-performance materials with a high wear and chemical resistance as well as operating temperatures but how close are we to being able to use these materials?

Our other podcasts:

Velo3D’s Zach Murphy talks about Velo’s technology and development.

We interview Formalloy’s Melanie Lang on directed energy deposition.

Greg Paulsen of Xometry talks to us about 3D printing applications.

Here we discuss 3D Printing in space.

We interview pioneering designer Scott Summit as he crosses Amsterdam on a bicycle.

Janne is another pioneering designer in 3D Printing.

3D Printing in Medicine.

3D Printed Guns.

Interview with 3D Scanning pioneer Michael Raphael.

3D Printers in the classroom, panacea or not?

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, what is happening now?

We’re all going to live forever with bioprinting.

The first episode: Beyond PLA.

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SmarTech Analysis Launches New Data Product Addressing Parts Produced by Additive Manufacturing

Industry analyst firm SmarTech Analysis today announced a new data product geared towards addressing the critical metric of additively manufactured parts produced. The Additive Manufacturing Applications Market Analysis Report is a first of its kind analysis looking into how the world’s users of both private and publicly accessible additive manufacturing machines are being utilized by providing a market forecast and valuation on the market value of top applications in the world of additive manufacturing in professional and industrial use environments.

The data is set to be released the week of October 21^,2019. You can learn more here.

About the Report:

This database and study tracks and reports on volumes of additively manufactured parts being produced today across numerous key industries, including parts produced by various AM service providers as well as private OEMs and suppliers in each market, split amongst the currently identified and expected future leading use cases for various AM technologies.

Users of this report and database will have access to forecast projections and current-day estimates of the volumes and total market value of all parts produced via AM in a given industry, within various print technologies, material types, and, most importantly, part functionality and type. Those stakeholders with an interest in evaluating various key use cases for specific types of AM technology, AM materials, or broader end-user markets, will be able to utilize this database to help identify market strategies to guide product development and go-to-market in the ever growing world of additive.

“As the additive manufacturing business moves towards more wide-spread production basis, it is crucial for stakeholders to be able to identify addressable markets and implement strategies to guide product development and drive go-to-market efforts, so says Scott Dunham, VP of Research at SmarTech Analysis.” “This unique data product was developed to support clients looking for deeper reporting and analysis of machine outputs beyond simple prototyping, tooling and parts metrics.”

SmarTech has previously provided opportunity analysis in the areas of sales of additive manufacturing systems, additive manufacturing materials, software, and outsourced production services. This database and report expand the universe of market opportunity analysis for additive manufacturing to cover the total and forecasted addressable markets for specific additively manufactured parts and part categories.

The database includes, but is not limited to, the listing of specific coverages for part and part categories shown in the table below. Each of these areas and more are tracked and forecasted by individual supporting print technology, material type, and region.

The database can be purchased as a complete unit or via individual verticals listed below:

Aerospace
Automotive
Consumer Goods
Dental
Energy
General Industry
Medical
Others

3DPrint.com is an equity owner of Smartech.

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Hybrid Manufacturing: Opportunities for Additive Manufacturing and CNC Companies

“Hybrid Manufacturing Markets: Opportunities for Additive Manufacturing and CNC Companies”, a new report from SmarTech Analysis, digs down into the market for hybrid manufacturing systems, which combine AM with subtractive manufacturing on a single platform. Hybrid machines are typically large-format machines utilizing high-volume additive processes such as DED and WAAM. But there are PBF and even FDM hybrids too.

This new SmarTech report shows how the market for hybrid manufacturing machines is driven by both their multi-functionality and their promise of cost-effectiveness. Hybrids can enable repairs of parts, process hard-to-cut, and high-hardness materials, and also provide post-processing capabilities. Some hybrids can also print multiple materials in one build. With regard to cost-effectiveness, there are potential cost savings on hardware and operational cost improvements through less need to move the part in process.

In the report SmarTech estimates that hybrid printers will generate $155 million in sales in 2019, growing to $424 million by 2025. Materials (mostly metals) consumed by hybrid machines will reach $24 million in 2019. By 2025, materials usage by hybrids will have grown to over $240 million.

“We believe the hybrid manufacturing business is a sizeable opportunity not just for firms that make big AM machines, but also for companies whose home is in the CNC space,” says Lawrence Gasman, President of SmarTech Analysis and author of the report. “Our market estimates, seem to confirm this belief. The AM market continues to grow faster than the CNC business, so is an attractive opportunity for the machine tool firms,” continues Gasman.

The Mazak INTEGREX i-400 AM combines a five axis machining with laser cladding.

Among the firms with roots in CNC that have entered the hybrid business are Diversified Machine Systems, DMG Mori, ELB-Schliff, Hermle, Ibarmia, Mazak, Mitsui Seiki, Okuma, and WFL Millturn. The hybrid activities of all of these firms are profiled in the SmarTech study along with profiles of long-time AM firms who now offer hybrids, such as GE Additive, Matsuura, Optomec, OR Laser and Trumpf.

The report also notes that hybrid manufacturing is dominated by aerospace applications. For example, according to press reports, GE is planning to utilize hybrid manufacturing for the production of 25,000 LEAP engine nozzles. However, hybrid is moving into other areas including automotive, oil and gas, construction and even the medical and dental sectors. In oil and gas, for example, hybrid technologies could serve to provide efficient on-demand manufacturing in remote locations—such as ocean-based oil and gas extraction platforms. According to the SME organization about 6 percent of all medical 3D printing already uses hybrid machines and the SmarTech report provides some examples of where this is already happening.

Of course, as SmarTech points out in its report, hybrid manufacturing is not for everyone and there are limits to the hybrid manufacturing market. For example, some potential users are put off by the fact that the additive and subtractive feature of the hybrid machines do not work simultaneously, which some regard as an important inefficiency. Other detractors point to the fact that special training is frequently required for the operators of hybrid machines. Learn more here.

For more details contact: Rob Nolan rob@smartechpublishing.com

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