Formnext 2023: What Are the Major Trends in Additive Manufacturing?

Once again, it’s time for us to give you our thoughts on Formnext 2023. The show closed its doors last Friday, leaving behind thousands of hours of exchanges between professionals and manufacturers, dozens of product launches and announcements of new partnerships, and hundreds of machines to be repacked. And what’s certain is that this year’s event once again could be deemed a success, reaching some of the pre-sanitary crisis figures despite the current geopolitical context. In total, 859 exhibitors answered the call including 60% international companies, addressing verticals such as medical, transport and defense. But what were the main trends at Formnext 2023? What were the main takeaways?

Compared to 2022, this year’s Formnext had more exhibitors – fifty to be precise. Moreover, there were 32,851 visitors to the show, an increase of 11.1% from last year. The four halls showcased numerous machines, particularly hybrid solutions. It’s clear that more and more manufacturers have taken the strategic step of combining additive manufacturing with machining or other more traditional manufacturing processes. We already knew this, but this Formnext confirmed the complementary nature of these means of production. The integration of additive manufacturing is taking place within a more global lens, and manufacturers are looking for all-in-one solutions. This is why machines capable of rapidly changing tool heads were more numerous, as were robotic arms.

Robotic arms were in abundance this year

We also spotted a manual injection press: HoliMaker was presenting its HoliPress, a machine that melts plastic granules and injects them into your mold. It can be used with 3D-printed molds, demonstrating the complementary nature of the two manufacturing processes (a sentiment shown by many at the show as we saw more and more 3D printing applications for casting and molds), and is compatible with a very wide range of pellets. Furthermore, on the pellet side, we’ve seen a lot of buzz around pellet 3D printing this year, with a few more dedicated machine manufacturers than in previous editions.