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3D PRINTERS
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3D printing is not new, but falling
prices have opened it up to a much
wider audience. The Printrbot Simple
Metal costs just £615.95; the entry-
level ST3Di model is priced at £1,200;
the Cubify Cube 3 has a price tag of
£1,299; and the MakerBot Replicator
5 costs around £2,300.
Market analysts all agree that as prices
fall 3D printing is going from strength
to strength. Gartner’s latest forecast is
that 3D printer shipments will more than
double every year between 2015 and
2018, by which time worldwide shipments
are forecast to reach 2.3 million. Canalys
estimates that nearly 133,000 3D printers
were shipped worldwide in 2014, 68%
more than in 2013.
Canalys Research Analyst Joe Kempton
said: “We have seen improving print speeds,
a wider range of materials and new forms
of additive manufacturing methods. There
has also been a substantial increase in the
number of vendors entering this space, with
many coming from Asia, challenging the
previous dominance of 3D printing hotspots
such as Germany and the USA.”
He points out that Chinese and
Taiwanese vendors, such as XYZPrinting,
have been particularly successful at
creating consumer-friendly 3D printers at
impressively low price points, adding that
many 3D printing companies have begun
to ramp up spending on research and
development to prepare for HP’s move into
the market in 2016.
This year, IDC expects spending on 3D
printing to go up by 27% to over $3.4
billion. It predicts that by 2020 more than
10% of all consumer products will be
available as produce-on-demand via 3D
printing in the home or through companies
offering such services.
Inflection point
Pete Basiliere, Research Vice President at
Gartner, believes the 3D printer market
is at an inflection point. He said: “Unit
shipment growth rates for 3D printers,
which languished in the low single and
double-digits per year in the 30 years since
the first 3D printers were invented, are
poised to increase dramatically beginning
in 2015. As radical as the forecast numbers
may seem, bear in mind that even the 2.3
million shipments that we forecast will
be sold in 2018 are a small fraction of
the total potential market of consumers,
businesses and government organisations
worldwide.”
Seven technologies constitute the 3D
printer market, with material extrusion
leading the market’s growth through 2018,
due to significant worldwide consumer
adoption of 3D printers costing less than
$1,000.
Gartner says that the primary market
drivers for consumer 3D printers are
lower prices, improved performance and
expanded global availability. The primary
market drivers for enterprise 3D printers are
the viability of 3D printing technologies for
prototyping and manufacturing, coupled
with lower 3D printer costs, improved
quality and a wider range of materials.
The jury may still be out on whether it makes commercial sense to offer 3D printers
as part of your core print portfolio, but there’s no getting away from the fact that
the 3D revolution is well underway.
Solid growth
Basiliere added: “Manufacturers
will strive to add features and improve
performance in the first few years rather
than reduce the prices of printers.
Therefore, the average selling prices (ASPs)
of a few technologies are expected to
increase or decrease gradually in the outer
years, after an increase in 2014 or 2015.”
Directed-energy deposition printers are
the most highly priced, followed by powder
bed fusion printers. “The ASPs of material
extrusion and vat photopolymerization
printers are expected to decrease as more
and more players enter the market with
offerings in the lower price bands within
these two technologies,“ he said.
Meanwhile manufacturers are pulling
together to improve the 3D printing
process for end users.
According to a report on 3DPB.com,
during 3D Print Week in April, J Scott
Schiller, Worldwide Business Director of
Hewlett-Packard 3D Printing, referred
The primary
market
drivers for
consumer 3D
printers are
lower prices,
improved
performance
and
expanded
global
availability.
continued...
The EKOCYCLE
Cube 3D
printer uses
recycled
filament for a
smaller carbon
footprint
