Market Trends of Additive Manufacturing and Materials Industry
Automotive to is expected Hold a Significant Share
- 3D printing is very helpful in manufacturing the final car parts. Automotive players like Volkswagen, BMW, and Ford use additive technology to manufacture final car parts. Fused Filament Fabrication (3F or FFF) is the latest improvement in 3D printing, where different materials are examined to have properties similar to plastics. With a 3D printer, the required parts and designs can be created, which makes the companies independent of external suppliers and further streamlines the production processes.
- Additive Manufacturing allows for toolless production with almost endless design flexibility. For instance, Ford Automotive uses 3D printing technology for production parts. The company is integrating AI with 3D technology to enhance its business capabilities. In March 2022, the automotive leader developed a robotic system to operate 3D printers. This interface allows machines from different suppliers to speak to each other in the same language and operate parts of the production line autonomously.
- General Motors plans to turn its entire fleet into zero-emission vehicles by 2035. Additive Manufacturing plays a vital role in designing intricate parts and lightweight vehicles with extended battery performance. When General Motors faced hindrances in producing a component needed to deliver the 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe, it turned to HP's 3D printing platform. After switching to HP's Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) 3D printing technology, GM was able to reduce the drying time, which sped up the manufacturing schedule for full-sized SUVs. Over five weeks, the necessary 60,000 parts for about 30,000 vehicles were successfully made and polished.
Asia Pacific is expected to witness significant growth rate
- China has set targets to increase industrial competitiveness as part of its Made in China 2025 strategy. They will do this by investing in cutting-edge technologies, like 3D printing, and preparing the future workforce. A survey conducted by Materialise among Chinese manufacturing companies stated 30% of companies agree that the use of 3D printing that will become more important than traditional manufacturing.
- China's aviation sector has begun using cutting-edge 3D printing technologies on next-generation warplanes, with 3D printed components being used to construct aircraft that had their maiden flight recently.
- The 3D bio-printing technique was developed by the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea for realistic engineered organs. As per the research institute, more automatized and elaborate methods for generating organ substitutes would be possible if 3D printing is integrated with AI and robotic technologies.
- JGC Holdings Corporation, a Japanese conglomerate, installed COBOD 3D printer in its construction work. Adopting COBOD technology will drastically reduce formwork construction time. The firm calculated that 3D printing might have cut this process from 16 days down to eight.