What is 3D Printing?

What is 3D Printing?

The 3D printing industry is no longer just interesting. It has become downright essential for business, and this is a prospect that investors should be aware of.

The statistics are becoming very straightforward. Roughly 75% of all large manufacturing companies and even 59% of small manufacturers have adopted it in some way. The number of jobs posted requiring workers with 3D printing skills has jumped 1,834% in four years, and still 103% year-over-year from 2013 to 2014.

It’s being used in virtually every sector, with five sectors all making up significant spending: automotive (17.3%), aerospace (12.3%), industrial machines (18.5%), consumer products (18.0%), and medical/dental (13.7%).

There’s been no shortage of success stories either. For example, as pointed out in the infographic, Ducati was able to reduce its development time by 20 months for its Desmosedici race bike engine, good for about an 80% increase in efficiency. Genesis Systems created robotic grippers for an 83% lower cost and in much less time.

While these exceptional stories are fairly anecdotal for now, we expect their size and scope to jump significantly as large-scale manufacturers adopt and integrate 3D printing systems into their production cycles.

Original graphic by: Stratasys