Global 3D Printing Market

Description

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a manufacturing process that creates a physical object from a digital design. There are various materials and technologies to print with, but all of them work on the same underlying principle of turning digital models into solid three-dimensional physical objects by adding material- layer by layer. The objects can be of almost any shape or geometry, the material can range from plastic to rubber to metals and alloys, and the design source can be any electronic data source such as an Additive Manufacturing File (AMF), a Stereolithography (STL) file or a CAD model.The digital design is sliced into thin layers and is then sent to a 3D printer. After this stage, the printing process depends on the type of technology. The printing can take hours to complete depending on the size, and the printed objects are often post-processed to reach the desired finish.

End-user/Technology

Prototyping is still probably the largestapplication of 3D printing today.3D Printing technology is mainly used to accelerate product development (28%), offer customized products (16%) and to increase production flexibility (13%). The end-users that are benefitting greatly from industrial 3D printing are doctors, dentists, architects, product designers, design entrepreneurs, aircraft manufacturers, aerospace companies, drone enthusiasts, consumer product makers, prop makers, and students.

Market Dynamics

The 3D printing market is expected to be worth USD 32.78 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 25.76% between 2017 and 2023 owing to growth fueling factors like increasing spending by market players on product development and R&D activities, increasing regulatory support from government, growth in end user segments and ease of manufacturing. The factors that may restrain the market growth can be high material cost, unavailability of and poor quality of material, lack of talent to use and manage this technology, lack of training and lack of accessibility to rapidly changing technology.
Focus on innovation and boost in R&D expenditure are the key trends followed by the market leaders. Major emphasis is laid on manufacturing low cost and low volume products that can be used across various industries. Issues such as intellectual property and copyright infringement have also popped up in this field.

Market Segmentation

The market is segmented on the basis of use, technology, printer,application, and geography. According to the type of use, the market is segmented into commercial and personal. On the basis of technology, the market is classified into PolyJet,Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Stereolithography (SLA) and others.According to printer, it is either industrial printer or Desktop 3D printers. By application, the segments of this market include consumer products and electronics, automotive, medical, industrial, aerospace, military, architecture, education and others.Geographically,the global 3D printing market can be divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America.

Regional/Geographic Analysis

North America held the largest share of the market in 2016, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific for 3D printing market.Western countries (North America and Europe) accountfor more than two-thirds (68%) of the 3D printing marketrevenue and Asia Pacific accounts for 27%. The United States is the major player when it comes to 3D printing. Among the European countries, Germany and the UK have made a significant investment. Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea,are also key players in this field.The emerging economies such as China, India, UAE, Brazil and South Africa are also investing substantially on the 3D printing technology. Among the emerging nations, China holds lions share in the 3D printing technology.

Opportunities

The 3D printing technology presents compelling business opportunities.Despite significant growth, there is a wealth of untapped potential in 3D printing. In fact, 3D printing represents only 0.04% of the global manufacturing market, with prototyping as the leading use today. It is believed that it will capture 5% of the manufacturing market in near future. Much of the opportunity lies in parts production – the fastest-growing 3D printing application.Also, it can speed the development and delivery of customized products and bring increased flexibilitythrough better inventory management and real-time production of products with variable demand.

Key Players

3D printing is a niche market with a few companies dominating the industry, but it is growing at a fast pace as more and more companies are entering this market domain. Some of the major players in the market include 3D Systems, ExOne, HP Inc, Proto Labs, Organovo, Nano Dimension, Stratasys, SLM Solutions Group and Voxeljet.