In 2024, the 3D printing space saw challenges and slower growth, with several prominent materials players exiting the industry.
In the long-term, there are still key trends within the additive manufacturing industry that will drive the uptake of this technology, covered by IDTechEx in its latest report, “3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing 2024-2034: Technology and Market Outlook”.
Changes in interest rates throughout 2024 has been one of the main causes of recent limited growth for the additive manufacturing industry, with the first interest rate cut since the pandemic taking effect in the US in September and further cuts since.
In Europe, interest rates were also cut many times in 2024 to help ease inflation, and these cuts had a major effect on the purchasing of 3D printing equipment.
Lowering interest rates may have persuaded 3D printing customers to delay purchasing until interest rates lower again or stabilise.
IDTechEx predicts that 2025 could see stabilizing rates, which may result in customers once again feeling confident in their equipment purchasing.
Despite the capabilities of this technology and a cautiously optimistic outlook, there are still ongoing global economic challenges that will affect the market.
Poor macro-economic conditions were seen in 2024, particularly in Europe: one of the key regions for 3D printing. Companies in key sectors were deciding against capital investment in countries like Germany, one of the key adopters of 3D printing technology. GDP shrunk in this economy for the second year in 2024, meaning growth across many sectors, including additive manufacturing, was limited, as spending was reduced and capital investment was delayed.
IDTechEx reports that companies in other regions have also expressed a need to delay investments due to this economic and geopolitical uncertainty.
The effects of the economic environment can be seen in several 3D printing players, namely large material suppliers, leaving the market in 2024.
Forward AM filed for insolvency after separating from BASF, while other companies such as Sintratec and Uniformity Labs closed their businesses.
Despite some 3D printing companies being known for having achieved strong growth within the market, many of these closed down.
Regardless of these ongoing challenges and closures, many 3D printing companies did see growth in 2024 and have positive expectations for 2025. Still, any continued growth will likely be steady rather than rapid, requiring customer support and investments.
Reshoring alludes to bringing manufacturing operations back from overseas, closer to where the end products will be used. Reshoring has been a goal for many countries since the pandemic disrupted supply chains.
Other motivations for reshoring will be tariffs imposed on different industries within the US, meaning American companies will want to bring manufacturing back to the US to protect their businesses.
3D printing companies believe these factors will increase adoption as 3D printing supports distributed manufacturing operations and the scale-up of local manufacturing industries.
Reducing cost per part will be another major influence in increasing the uptake of 3D printing technologies. With the largest barrier to additive manufacturing being cost, manufacturers focus on increasing the throughput of printers to print more in less time, thus bringing cost per part down, with new printers specifically designed to meet this goal.
Improvements and new approaches to polymer powder bed fusion may reduce waste and increase sustainability, which is an additional target for the 3D printing industry. Increasing the utilization of already used powder will help reduce the amount of material used and prevent unnecessary excess.
While some printers can use between 70% to 80% used powder, changes are being made to some software to enable printing that uses 100% used powder, which will increase the sustainability of some powder bed fusion processes.
The desire to decrease labour costs and increase productivity will also help increase the uptake of 3D printing technology, in which automation will play a huge role in.
Reducing the knowledge requirements for additive manufacturing processes and making large production more feasible will be possible with automated print farms where printers can run 24/7 without much intervention, which some companies in the space have already demonstrated.
Additionally, automating 3D printing will help with reshoring and reducing cost per part, as the need for labour and educating employees will be reduced, meaning productivity has room to increase.
IDTechEx expects the defense industry to be one of the major sectors of interest for 3D printing, as reported by many printer manufacturers in 2024. With the demand for legacy parts, spare parts, and on demand parts, and the desire for more resilience that can be brought about by 3D printing, growth in the defence industry is expected to carry on in 2025.
The automotive sector will also drive growth for 3D printing, as it could provide a good solution for the market as it faces tariffs and economic uncertainties with other supply chains.