June 2014 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 61 A dditive manufacturing (AM) has trav- eled a great distance from its humble prototyping past. In 2014, it stands on the brink of becoming a serious and potentially game-changing method of manufacturing. AM represents a family of technologies being used by individuals, small groups, and large corporations around the world, making parts for a mind-boggling array of applications. In the past two years, additive manufacturing and 3D printing—terms that are used interchangeably—have received unprecedented interest from corporations, government agencies, individual and institutional investors, do-it-yourselfers, and mainstream journalists. In hindsight, we believe the tipping point for AM technologies occurred around the third quarter of 2012. A series of articles Topology optimization software was used to produce this bionic cabin bracket. 3D Printing Builds Up its Manufacturing Resume The additive manufacturing revolution is in full stride, flying in aircraft and giving manufacturers a robust tool for design and production Tim Caffrey, Senior Consultant, and Terry Wohlers, President, Wohlers Associates, Inc. Additive Manufacturing Photo courtesy Airbus
Transcript
June 2014 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 61
Additive manufacturing (AM) has trav-
eled a great distance from its humble
prototyping past. In 2014, it stands on
the brink of becoming a serious and
potentially game-changing method of
manufacturing. AM represents a family
of technologies being used by individuals, small groups,
and large corporations around the world, making parts for a
mind-boggling array of applications.
In the past two years, additive manufacturing and 3D
printing—terms that are used interchangeably—have
received unprecedented interest from corporations,
government agencies, individual and institutional investors,
do-it-yourselfers, and mainstream journalists. In hindsight,
we believe the tipping point for AM technologies occurred
around the third quarter of 2012. A series of articles
Topology optimization software was
used to produce this bionic cabin bracket.
3D Printing Builds Up its Manufacturing Resume
The additive manufacturing revolution is in full stride, flying in aircraft and giving manufacturers a robust tool for design and production
Tim Caffrey, Senior Consultant, and Terry Wohlers, President,Wohlers Associates, Inc.
Additive Manufacturing
Pho
to c
ourt
esy
Airb
us
published by the Economist in 2011 sparked interest
worldwide. Also contributing has been the growth of personal
3D printers (those priced at under $5,000), which followed
the expiration of key patents related to the material extrusion
process first commercialized by Stratasys.
Over the past 24 months, the world suddenly discovered
3D printing, even though the first commercial machine became
available in 1988. This appetite for all things 3D has continued
unabated, and interest has accelerated in recent months.
Several of the largest and most recognizable brands are
testing the waters. UPS, Office Depot, and Staples offer 3D
printing services in a select number of stores. The latter
two also sell 3D printers in their retail stores. Amazon has a
complete AM department that offers machines, materials, and
accessories, while eBay offers an app for ordering custom 3D-
printed parts. Microsoft, Adobe Systems, and Autodesk have
added features to software products that attempt to make 3D
printing as easy as document printing. Google has partnered
with 3D Systems to make parts for Project Ara, Google’s cus-
tom smart phone of the future. And Hewlett–Packard plans to
make a 3D printing announcement before the end of this year.
Governments around the world are investing in 3D printing
research, development, and infrastructure. Last year, China
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62 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | June 2014
Additive Manufacturing
Fuel nozzle for new LEAP engine.
Pho
to c
ourt
esy
GE
Avia
tion
launched aggressive investments in the technology, with
one effort involving $245 million over a period of six years.
Meanwhile, Singapore is pouring $400 million into advanced
manufacturing, which includes AM. Taiwan and South Korea
recently announced multi-million dollar investments in AM
technologies, joining governments in Australia, Europe, South
Africa, and the US that are investing in the technology.
The investment community has taken a real shine to
AM, although stocks from publicly traded AM companies
have experienced volatility in 2014. Even so, investors are
determined to better understand the products, companies,
and trends surrounding this dynamic and intriguing industry.
Rock-Solid Growth in 2013
Despite some uncertainty, the long-term outlook for the
AM industry remains very strong. Total revenues from all AM
products and services worldwide grew 34.9% in 2013 to
$3.07 billion, according to research for Wohlers Report 2014.
The AM industry’s compound annual growth rate for the
past 25 years is an impressive 27%. The CAGR over the past
three years (2011–2013) is 32.3%. Regardless of the volatile
stocks, misleading articles, and often overhyped capabilities
of the technology, AM is an industry that is emerging from its
awkward adolescence with solid growth and a strong founda-
tion for further maturation.
The Sky’s the Limit
A big part of that maturation rests with the aerospace
industry. Boeing has installed environmental control system
ducting made by AM for its commercial and military aircraft
for many years. In fact, tens of thousands of AM parts are
flying on 16 different production aircraft—both commercial
and military. The real bellwether event was GE Aviation’s 2013
announcement that it would be using AM to print a very seri-
ous metal part for jet engines. The company has committed
to using AM to manufacture more than 30,000 fuel nozzles
annually for its new LEAP engine starting in 2015. The new
design consolidates 18 parts into one, and is 25% lighter and
five times more durable than the previous fuel nozzle.
64 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | June 2014
Additive Manufacturing
This chart provides revenues (in millions of dollars) for AM
products and services worldwide. As you can see, the past
four years are up significantly from previous years, and the
market has nearly tripled over this period of time.
Sour
ce: W
ohle
rs R
epor
t 201
4
GE and Boeing are not alone. Airbus has 20 AM proj-
ects underway, with a few hundred part numbers flying, or
soon to be flying, on the new A350 airplane. A structural
cabin bracket made by AM in the titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V
will fly on an A350 mid year. Meanwhile, Pratt & Whitney,
Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, MTU Aero Engines, NASA, the
Aviation Industry Corporation of China, and other aerospace
companies are accelerating their involvement and invest-
ment in AM.
Yet just a few years ago, uncertainty surrounded metal AM.
Concerns included surface porosity, a lack of full density, and
unpredictable microstructure. Today, that uncertainty has all
but vanished. AM is producing metal parts that are 99–100%
dense. To ensure that parts are free of porosity and 100%
dense, companies such as GE Aviation are using hot isostatic
pressing (HIP). AM systems are making parts with material
properties that exceed the properties of castings, and match
the properties of wrought materials.
Aerospace companies are not the only manufacturers
embracing metal AM. More than 90,000 acetabular orthope-
dic implants have been manufactured since 2007. According
to EOS, about 19,000 dental copings are manufactured every
day using the company’s direct metal laser sintering systems.
In many ways, metal AM has come further in 10 years than
polymer AM has in 25 years.
Can You Say “M&A?”
The AM industry continues to undergo consolidation
from mergers and acquisitions. 3D Systems acquired 43
companies from August 2009 through April 2014. One
notable acquisition in the past year is Phenix Systems, the
French metal powder bed fusion system manufacturer.
The Phenix acquisition gives 3D Systems an offering in
the fast-growing metal AM sector. Meanwhile, Stratasys
acquired MakerBot Industries, paying up to $604 million
for a company selling machines based on Stratasys’
June 2014 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 65
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own fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology. 3D
Systems, Stratasys, and other AM system manufacturers
also acquired material supply companies, as they look to
consolidate their respective supply chains.
Acquisitions have had a profound impact on the AM service
industry. GE Aviation’s acquisition of Morris Technologies in
November 2012 turned out to be an important chapter in this
seemingly never-ending story. Stratasys wrote its own chapter in
March 2014 when it acquired Solid Con-
cepts and Harvest Technologies, two of
the largest, most mature, and respected
service providers. Meanwhile, in the past
year, 3D Systems absorbed England’s
CRDM, Brazil’s Robtec, and Colorado’s
Medical Modeling, an expert provider
of medical models, metal implants, and
surgical guides.
New Stocks, Companies, Opportunities
ExOne went public in early 2013,
followed by Voxeljet in September. They
joined Arcam, Renishaw, Stratasys,
and 3D Systems as publically traded
manufacturers of AM systems. The first-
ever AM mutual fund, called 3D Printing
and Technology Fund, was announced
in January 2014. More recently, system
manufacturer SLM Solutions and veter-
an AM company Materialise announced
their plans to go public this year.
Crowdfunding sites, such as Kick-
starter and Indiegogo, have been excel-
lent matches for 3D printing startup com-
panies. Formlabs raised nearly $3 million
for its Form 1 Kickstarter project in 2012.
In April 2014, the Micro 3D printer from
M3D LLC surpassed the Form 1 after
raising more than $3 million. These are
not isolated incidents. More than 55
different 3D printing-related fundrais-
ing projects are underway or have been
completed on crowdfunding platforms.
The range and variety of personal 3D
printers, defined as systems costing up to
$5,000, has exploded, a term we rarely
use to describe any part of this industry.
At any exhibition or event around the
world, one will typically see several start-
up companies offering new low-cost 3D
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Additive Manufacturing
printers. What’s more, this category is no longer limited to mate-
rial extrusion “FDM clones.” Several new low-cost photopolymer-
based systems have followed Formlabs’ Form 1 into the market.
The final foundation patent on laser sintering owned by the
University of Texas at Austin will expire
in June 2014. Similar to the expiration of
FDM and stereolithography patents, this
will likely result in another wave of 3D
printers using the laser sintering process
to make durable plastic parts. However,
the process requires the management of
fine powders and a precisely heated build
chamber—challenges that may deter
some startup developers from producing
new laser sintering machines.
Where It’s All Going
In 2003, the use of AM for part pro-
duction was a mere 3.9% of the indus-
try’s total product and service revenues,
according to our research. This important
segment of the market has since grown to
become nearly nine times larger. The pro-
duction of parts by AM for final products
is growing rapidly because the technol-
ogy offers unique capabilities to reduce
weight, consolidate many parts into one,
and improve part usability and perfor-
mance. When parts are designed—or
redesigned—to take advantage of these
unique capabilities, AM becomes a can-
didate for production applications—even
for relatively high production volumes,
although it depends greatly on the size,
type, and finish requirements of the part.
The aerospace, medical, and dental
industries were the first to take advan-
tage of these unique capabilities, primar-
ily because low production volumes of
high-value parts make AM economically
feasible. Final part production with AM
is growing beyond this group of bespoke
and low-volume industries, and will
continue to expand into other industries
for new, unanticipated applications. The
cost of materials, coupled with the size and speed of machines,
will be among the primary drivers in the foreseeable future.
The transition from prototyping to series production presents
many challenges, especially in the highly regulated aerospace
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