Text: Thomas Masuch, 4 November 2024
Taking a look at the current Additive Manufacturing market from the perspectives of five experts
The market is growing, yet share prices are on the decline: For most of us, the recent developments in the world of additive manufacturing are difficult to understand. And then there are the very different signals AM companies have been sending. Some are letting 15 percent of their workforce go or only staving off bankruptcy by selling their precious intellectual property; others, meanwhile, are reporting 30-percent increases in revenue, and some start-ups continue to rake in more than €20 million in a single round of financing.
The sense of euphoria has subsided somewhat, but the AM market definitely has plenty of things going for it. In any case, it’s miles away from the gloomy assessments of so-called analysts who focus almost exclusively on the stock prices of publicly traded AM firms. Consider how well things are trending for Formnext in the run-up to this year’s big event, for example. To paint as realistic picture as possible of the current world of AM, we spoke with five of the industry’s leading minds and asked them to give us their views on the following:
- The current situation in the market and at their particular company
- Whether they think the pessimism that has taken hold in some circles is justified
- What the causes of this might be
- AM’s chances for continued success in the future
As you might expect, their responses varied a great deal – and yet most of them seem to agree on a few core sentiments:
- The present circumstances depend on the industry and application in question.
- Competition is getting tougher.
- AM’s future prospects remain highly positive; both the number of applications and the overall market will continue to grow.
But why not get these insights straight from the experts themselves?
- Arno Held, AM Ventures: „It is positive that dubious participants have left the table“
- Rainer Lotz, Renishaw: “The good long-term prospects are not at risk”
- Frank Carsten Herzog, HZG Group: „There is no reason for pessimis“
- Jurgen Laudus, Materialise Manufacturing: Big difference between prototyping and series production
- Rainer Gebhardt, VDMA: „More confident than the average“
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- Market reports and studies