Momentous Year Ahead for 3D PrintingMomentous Year Ahead for 3D Printing

As we head into 2025, every industry is taking stock of what that means for technology, business, strategy, and trends. In the 3D-printing world, the horizon isn’t necessarily clear, nor quite as unlimited as earlier promises suggested — but the new year could lead to some necessary growing pains as restructuring shapes up and previous major moves shake out. Additive manufacturing (AM) technology continues to progress, while the biggest differences will be on the business end for this industry.

Technology delivers

A year ago, moving into 2024, the 3D printing industry was on the cusp of fulfilling promises the technology had been shilling for years, if not decades. Many of those, indeed, have come to pass.

The relatively recent proliferation of actually affordable 3D printers and wider variety of functional materials are making on-demand manufacturing a reality. The philosophy of “one-size-fits-one” is emboldening companies to use 3D printing to prototype and manufacture shoes, specialty tooling, assistive devices, prosthetics, medical tools and implants, and many more highly specific items. As these products roll out into commercial availability, such applications as hearing aids have already become ubiquitous on the market, paving the way for the next big thing in “made-for-me” manufacturing. Further, advances in alternative (i.e., not polymer or metal) materials continues, with bioprinting, construction 3D printing, and food 3D printing moving nicely along with real-world applications and proofs of concept.

On the desktop 3D-printing front, companies like Bambu have rolled out popular, sub-thousand-dollar systems that outperform the high-end systems of years gone by. While it’s not all roses, with a lawsuit purporting patent infringement from industry giant Stratasys, there’s no question the proliferation of Bambu systems on the market have had an outsized impact on the desktop 3D-printing market. Desktop 3D-printing has been outperforming industrial 3D printer sales as the market shifts and matures. As more desktop-sized systems are capable of handling multiple materials — including different colors, removable support materials, and even mechanically differing materials — accessibility to new means of manufacturing is broadening. Will these be the final nail in the democratization coffin? Time will tell.

Software, too, is finally seeing new and impactful innovation after some years of more incremental advances. Merger and acquisition updates as well as new partnerships are seeing this segment leap ahead. The trifecta of system, material, and software is the holy trinity of successful 3D printing, and the closer these pieces sync up, the better results will be.

SPACs, IPOs, and other big moves play out

The new year will hold interest in not only wholly new happenings, but in the playing out of what previous years set in motion. Following the abundance of SPACs (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies), whose sole purpose is to merge with private companies to take them public without an IPO, or initial public offering, a few years ago, now-public businesses are seeing where they shake out on the active stock market. That news hasn’t always, or perhaps even often, been positive. Several companies have delisted or altogether disappeared, while others are seeking new means of staying afloat.

Rebounding from bankruptcy, Shapeways is building a new future. Image courtesy of Shapeways.

Shapeways, for example, and voxeljet have recently accepted new paths toward new futures. In Shapeways’ case, the original founders have fished company assets from bankruptcy and are beginning a long path of rebuilding. For voxeljet, an asset deal is restructuring the business under the new ownership of Anzu Partners. This follows a delisting from Nasdaq earlier this year and move to over-the-counter trading. Also finding a new path at the 11th hour is Velo3D, which rose to great SPAC heights before plummeting off the stock exchange and has now seen a holiday gift in the form of a more secure future.

Some of the biggest public moves have followed paths that lead, instead of separate major players, to a consolidated powerhouse. Nano Dimension, which has been on an acquisition spree with successful and failed bids, is in the process of closing on both Desktop Metal and Markforged. The two companies, rivals for years, could now be housed under the same parent. Last-minute changes in 2024, though, have thrown this into question as Nano Dimension has seen sudden shakeups including the ouster of its M&A-happy CEO and a change in the makeup of its board of directors. Desktop Metal has filed suit in a bid to see the acquisition go through, though Nano Dimension has declared it “without merit.” Never let it be said this industry is not one for the spectators; get your popcorn ready in 2025 for more of this continuing saga.

On a more hopeful front, Carbon is planning to go public in a non-SPAC move, though time will tell how that shakes out.

The micro and macro effects of right-sizing

Consolidation is, of course, its own headliner in this industry. Part of maturation is accepting and streamlining the best-proved business strategies, and that means a right-sizing of not only individual companies, but the industry at large.

Whether rumored or real, several high-profile companies have throughout the course of 2024 been perceived as cutting down. This has been evident in reduced event attendance and in reduced workforces. In many cases, layoffs precede starker news like bankruptcy — or potentially more optimistic moves like mergers and acquisitions.

One of the perhaps unintended consequences of these consolidations, and in particular of layoffs, has been a new shape to the available additive manufacturing talent pool. Now more than ever before, experts with a decade or more of experience in 3D printing are available for hire. Cut loose by companies no longer able to afford the salaries these experts command, they are now free agents. While many have gone the consulting route, others have stepped into new high-profile roles with businesses beside themselves with joy at their new wells of experience.

Further on the talent pool front, more training opportunities are available for students, mid- and later-career professionals, and executives to enhance knowledge bases. While the shift in employment is certainly disheartening in the near term for individuals impacted, the good news for the industry is that availability of expertise for hire will lead, as budgets permit, for more institutional knowledge.

The real value of IP

There’s institutional knowledge, and then there’s intellectual property. In a fast-growing sector of advanced manufacturing, IP is everything. We see this with lawsuits protecting patents, the ongoing debate between open and closed source, and other routes toward development of something outside the next me-too tech advance. While we could consider IP under the previous umbrella, as M&A brings together more previously competitive portfolios, it’s worth considering as its own subject.

Formnext 2024 had perhaps the most eye-opening IP moment recently. As the largest global event for the industry, Frankfurt-based Formnext offers a truly global representation. In an East-meets-West happening, European and North American attendees are able to see first-hand some of the advances coming out of, in particular, China. Many Western companies are protective against what they see as IP theft from across the globe. This feeling came to a head this year when a raid on China-based VoxelDance’s booth shut the software company’s showing down early following reports from several other vendors.

Ghost guns and other sensationalist headlines

Finally, as 2024 has wound down, we’re due one more major trend to keep an eye on going forward. This once-and-future trend is, of course, sensational headlines.

The most glaringly sensationalist and salacious is the use of 3D printing to produce components for firearms. Applications in so-called ghost guns are on the rise as the technology proves more able to withstand fire without exploding in the user’s hand. On Dec. 4, an assailant popularly dubbed The Adjuster or Robin Hoodie, and now allegedly identified as in-custody suspect Luigi Mangione, assassinated the CEO of a major US health insurance company, Brian Thompson of UnitedHealthcare. Of relevance to technology, the weapon allegedly used was reportedly a 3D-printed ghost gun. Whatever the truth of that matter shakes out to be, a clear outcome is that media outcry, especially from non-industry press, has been and will be boisterous. As Mangione goes to trial and more details become publicly available, we can all brace ourselves for some bad takes on “the dangers of 3D-printed guns” and a spotlight on this industry that may shine it in a negative or even violent light. Let’s take this time to remember that many applications are technically possible but specialized expertise is still required to execute them effectively.

Onward, then, to a new year of 3D printing!