In their latest global industry report, Essentium has found increasing levels of confidence in additive manufacturing.
The new report, which was targeted at team managers and executives, reveals an accelerated pattern of adoption and trust for additive technologies. The scale of growth is rising fast across the globe, with 86% of stakeholders reporting that their production of 3D printed parts has doubled – 45% have seen a tenfold increase in additive production.
The business drivers for scaled adoption reveal several strengths for additive manufacturing. The most popular reasons for scaled adoption are improved part performance (55%) and design freedom (45%). Supply chain improvements, reduced costs and decreased time to market are also prominent drivers for adoption.
Additive manufacturing should also provide huge environmental and sustainability benefits in the future, too. Waste reduction (45%), minimised overruns (44%), and reduced heavy logistical requirements (40%) are set to have the most substantial impact on sustainability initiatives. Over three-quarters of respondents stated that 3D printing will be ‘very’ important for their company’s sustainability.
The report also details current roadblocks and desires. The vast majority of respondents (86%) still face obstacles in large-scale production. High costs and inability to meet application requirements are the biggest challenges currently; fear of extreme change and a lack of expertise also arise as roadblocks.
Improvements to materials (primarily those resistant to high heat, chemicals and fatigue) and platform/software developments were listed as the most desired future innovations.
Who are Additure?
Additure are a no-nonsense provider of additive manufacturing solutions. Our mission is to cut through the jargon and fears surrounding additive manufacturing. We take pride in being experts and engineers – not salespeople.
Manufacturers continue to see the potential in additive manufacturing. However, there are still industry concerns in utilising the technology, either because of cost per part, or because expertise is lacking. Additure are intent on demystifying the hype around metal AM; we use it as a manufacturing tool that sits as part of your manufacturing portfolio, performing the right tasks for the right reasons.