Growth of Additive Manufacturing
The Additive Manufacturing industry has experienced a strong upswing in recent years, growing fivefold from 2008 to 2018. Currently, a further development up to a doubling of the market volume is expected until 2023.
High revenue with additive products causes an increased demand from machine and material manufacturers. A proof of demand is the worldwide positive cost development of additive metal production from 2013 to 2018. Costs are forecasted to drop further by 2023.
Parallel to the plants and products, further branches of the Additive Manufacturing industry, such as Reverse engineering, design, and component post-processing, develop.
SCOPE OF APPLICATION/ APPLICATION DISTRIBUTION OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
The professional application of Additive Manufacturing as a part of the value chain in individual industries in the future is shown with the following percentage distribution, cf. Figure, in a global survey of companies in 2016.
For example, the biggest potential of additive applications has the plastics industry with 38%. Followed directly by the Aviation and automotive industry, each with 29%. Pharma and medicine considered as a non-manufacturing industry is an important key user with 28%
APPLICATION
Surveys by AM machine manufacturers on their customers show that the scope of application of Additive Manufacturing is still very diverse. Mostly they are functional parts and function prototypes.
Distribution of answers from machine manufacturers to the question of where their customers use additive manufacturing.
MOST-USED ADDITIVE PROCEDURES 2018
The most widely used additive processes in 2018 represent a variety of processes and frequency of use. The figure shows a high level of acceptance of plastics in additive manufacturing. For example, the plastic processes are followed by metals with laser and Electron Beam Melting and represent a broad application in industry.
