Sculpteo Study Shows that Additive Manufacturing is Making its Mark on Industry

For the 7th year in a row, printing service Sculpteo has released its study, The State of 3D Printing, which highlights additive manufacturing users around the world. This year’s report is a little different since it also looked at the impact of the health crisis on respondents’ 3D printing activities. And it must be said that the results were globally positive: 30% of respondents claim to have increased their 3D printing operations in response to COVID-19 while 23% invested more than 100k in the sector last year. It is also important to note that the participants maintained their confidence in the technology, with more than 61% ready to invest more in 2021. The study therefore shows signs of the health of the additive manufacturing industry, confirming what was announced last year.

The 7th edition of The State of 3D Printing includes responses from 1,900 industry professionals in 86 different countries. Clément Moreau, CEO and co-founder of Sculpteo, highlights the fact that this is the first time the study has been so international. This year, what was notable was the signs of the maturing of the 3D printing sector, with more participants having chosen the technology internally and structured their activities around it. 18% of respondents created a department dedicated to additive manufacturing and 43% have been using it for more than 5 years. As you know, the technology was primarily used for rapid prototyping, but the trend has been reversed in recent years. The figures speak for themselves, with 53% of respondents using 3D printing for small series and 25% for large series.

Additive manufacturing is used in the production of small and large series (photo credits: BMW)

If we go further in terms of applications, the study shows that more companies are 3D printing finished parts, especially mechanical parts (52%) and consumer goods (27%). Tooling and the creation of spare parts are also showing significant use. This not only shows that AM can be considered a reliable, manufacturing technology but also highlights the trend of component reparability. For the fight against programmed obsolescence, 3D printing offers a very interesting alternative.