Here’s to a magical concept that can turn our imaginations into reality. Yes, you’ve heard it right. What we are talking about is 3D printing. Once only known to be far-fetched and fictional, 3D printing now enables us to design, create, and print 3D objects of any shape and size that we imagine. The technology is gradually gaining popularity and becoming a must-have asset for engineering firms today.
So why did 3D printing become such an indispensable tool for organizations? Well, it’s because it speeds up the development of customized products and facilitates increased flexibility via proper management of inventory and real-time production. Other benefits that 3D printing offers include improved quality, more design freedom, manufacturing in a single step, and reduced cost related to machine operation, materials, and labor.
Though the market for 3D printing is nascent, it is witnessing and is expected to achieve rapid growth in recent years. While increased efficiency in production, reduced development cost and time, and the ability of the technology to build customized parts are the main drivers of the sector growth, increased use of 3D printing in healthcare and various other industries is expected to create lucrative growth opportunities. A report published by Allied Market Research on the 3D printing market states that the industry is expected to accrue a sum of $44,393.1 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 21.8% from 2019 to 2025.
According to analysts, a greater number of small, large, and medium-sized enterprises started exploring the 3D printing technology for manufacturing various parts of their products and unraveling new business cases. They are also actively investing in the technology either by acquiring companies, launching new products, or investing in partnerships with other firms in the ecosystem or research centers to expand their foothold in the market.
For instance, Peri Group, one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of formwork and scaffolding systems, purchased COBOD International A/S, a sister company of the Danish 3D Printhuset A/S, with the aim of incorporating 3D printing in the construction sector. DMG Mori Seiki Co., a Japan-based manufacturer and distributor of machine tools announced its 30% acquisition of Intech DMLS, a developer of software for additive manufacturing (AM) with the aim of boosting its AM capabilities. GE Additive, a part of the world’s digital industrial company, GE, recently announced a new partnership to secure 3D printing workflow, right from design to print.
Peri Group and COBOD Deal
Peri Group completed the acquisition of COBOD in October ’18. The deal brings two technologically sound companies together and makes 3D printing play an important role in construction. The acquisition also enables Peri to bring the technology to a breakthrough more broadly and better serve their customers by offering manual or automatic solutions. According to Henrik Lund-Nielsen, CEO of COBOD International, they are proud to combine with PERI as the purchase would strengthen their company in future. He also said that the companies, PERI and COBOD, represent the best of the existing technology and the best of the new.
DMG Mori and INTECH Sign Collaboration Agreement
DMG MORI announced its acquisition of 30% stake in INTECH DMLS in November ’18 at Formnext 2018 in Frankfurt. The deal is aimed at strengthening DMG’s global foothold in India and accelerate the development in additive manufacturing. The deal also allows DMG to access key software for generative production with INTECH’s OPTOMET, which automatically calculates the optimal process parameters, simplifying programming and resulting in enhanced surface quality and reproducible material properties. Mr. Sridhar Balaram, CEO of INTECH said, Leveraging synergies is key, and the collaboration is a perfect fit of hardware and software. OPTOMET can also be applied to other key technologies of additive manufacturing, such as Direct Energy Deposition and Binder Jetting. OPTOMET is a game changer for the whole additive manufacturing market.
GE Additive Announced Technological Integration
GE Additive and Vera, a next-generation data security company announced forming a partnership in November ’18. The deal allows the management of the entire additive workflow from design in CAD to print on GE machines by utilizing Vera’s data-centric security and GE Additive’s new Build Preparation workflow services. The collaboration between the two companies allows customers opportunities for encrypting sensitive manufacturing designs at the point of creation, dynamic encryption travels with designs, full data visibility, and real-time policy enforcement.
