Analysts Forecast Optimistic Future for Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) has received a lot of attention in the past few years, some good, some bad. The stocks go up and down. For every True Believer there’s a Doubting Thomas. Regardless of which side you happen to be on, it can’t be argued that AM is continuing to grow.

The analysts and experts that peer into a 3D printed future take note of existing trends and attempt to extrapolate how the industry will evolve. Some of the most recent information released comes to us from a couple of different sources. IDTechEx and Wohlers Associates both provide views on AM, and, when their information is compared, present something of a holistic picture for the future of 3D printing.

IDTechEx’s Hype Curve model presents an idea for the future of the 3D printing business. Courtesy of IDTechEx.

IDTechEx expects that the global market for AM will reach $7 billion by 2025. The company also predicts that even by 2020 new AM applications will continue to push growth for the field as a whole, specifically in areas of 3D printing that aren’t currently commercially available (such as bioprinting). Continued AM development by big business will also drive AM use, particularly in medical industries.

Wohlers Associates, meanwhile, has reported that printer sales for metal AM has increased by nearly 76% since 2012. The company attributes this growth as the result of major production industries, including aerospace and medical, taking an increased interest in the technology.

“Companies such as Airbus, General Electric, and Lima Corporate are using these machines to produce complex metal parts for next-generation aerospace and medical products,” said Terry Wohlers, founder and president of Wohlers Associates and a principal author of the new report.

All of that sounds like pretty good news for the AM industry, but IDTechEx also provided us with an interesting chart the company claims charts the “hype” surround 3D printing. While terms like, “Peak of Inflated Expectations” and, “Trough of Disillusionment” might sound more Zen than business, the chart presents what seems (to me at least) like a reasonable estimate of how interest in emerging technologies peaks and ebbs.

If we apply IDTechEx’s hype model to metal additive manufacturing, it would certainly appear that sales are approaching the zenith of the expectations curve. Even if sales continue to grow for another few years, eventually most companies will have figured out what the technology can (or can’t) do for their business, and sales will decline. By that point, though, another wave of hype will be on the way for different uses of AM.

Below you’ll find a video that outlines another growing area of AM, namely home 3D printers.

Sources: IDTechEx, Wohlers Associates