Wohlers Report 2023features the latest information you need to stay informed and expand your knowledge of the constantly evolving AM industry.
Gain a thorough understanding of AM and applications from pre- to post-processing, and learn about the latest technologies, applications, and trends from top industry experts
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Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Remarks from ASTM International
- A note from Terry Wohlers
- About the Authors and Editors
- Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Conversions
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
- Focus of this report
- Introduction to AM and 3D printing
- Processes and feedstock
- Putting AM to work
- History of AM
- 1960s to the modern era
- March 2022 to March 2023
- Industry Survey
- Applications
- Prototyping
- Tooling
- Final part production
- Additional applications
- Industries
- Aerospace
- Medical
- Dentistry
- Automotive
- Consumer products
- Education and academic research
- Power and energy
- Government and military
- Architectural models
- Additive construction
- Other industries
- Myths and misconceptions
- AM will replace conventional manufacturing
- Complexity is free
- AM is a “push button” process
- Most AM systems are similar
- AM is environmentally friendly
- Few materials are available for AM
- Metal AM produces parts inexpensively
- AM parts are inferior to conventional parts
- Every home will have a 3D printer
PART 2: MATERIALS AND PROCESSES
- Processes
- Material extrusion
- Vat photopolymerization
- Powder bed fusion
- Material jetting
- Binder jetting
- Directed energy deposition
- Sheet lamination
- Materials
- Polymers
- New polymer products
- Polymer pricing
- Metals
- Factors impacting the adoption of metals
- New metal powders
- Producing powders for metal AM
- Metal powder pricing
- Composites materials
- Hybrid materials
- Materials for metal casting
- Ceramics and other materials
- Third-party material producers
- Open vs. closed material business models
- Third-party producers
- Materials database
- Materials by process
- Material producers and products
PART 3: INDUSTRY GROWTH
- Revenue from AM worldwide
- Products and services
- Growth percentages
- System manufacturers
- R&D spending
- Unit sales
- Systems sold by region
- Cumulative sales
- Average selling price
- Metal AM systems
- Desktop 3D printers
- Sales growth
- Materials and R&D
- AM material sales
- Photopolymers
- Polymer powders
- Filaments
- Metals
- Service providers
- Primary service market
- Service provider survey
- Contributing service providers
- Survey results
- Pre- and post-processing
- Most profitable AM processes
- Most profitable material
- Revenue growth
- Comments from service providers
- Investment in publicly traded companies
- Revenues and earnings
- Looking ahead
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Corporate investments
- CAD solid modeling
PART 4: PRODUCTION OF END-USE PARTS
- Benefits of AM
- Biomimicry and generative design
- Custom and limited product manufacturing
- Digital inventories and part consolidation
- Elimination of tooling
- Optimized structures
- Reduced lead time and on-demand manufacturing
- Waste reduction and sustainability
- Design for additive manufacturing
- AM is not a replacement technology
- Economic benefits of DfAM
- Calculating part cost
- DfAM strategies
- Lightweighting
- Support minimization
- Minimizing residual stress and distortion
- Improving surface finish
- Part consolidation
- Mass customization
- Product performance improvements
- Software
- 3D scan-processing software
- Topology optimization, design and algorithmic modeling
- Repair
- Simulation
- Slicing and print preparation
- Print management
- Manufacturing execution systems
- Security
- Medical image processing
- Process monitoring of metal powder bed fusion
- Aconity3D
- Addiguru
- Addup
- EOS
- GE Additive
- Layer Metrics
- Manufacturing Demonstration Facility
- Open Additive
- Phase3D
- Renishaw
- Sigma Additive Solutions
- SLM Solutions
- Velo3D
- Zeiss
- Outlook
- Post-processing
- Polymer post-processing steps
- Surface post-processing steps
- AM par inspection
- Cost and challenges
- Operating costs
- Cost justification
- Machine throughput
- Metal part production cost considerations
- Safety considerations
- Facility considerations
- Additional equiptment
- Qualification and quality
- Educating designers
- Scaling AM into production
- Production systems
- Software
- Staff and maintenance
- Post-processing
- Finishing
- Quality control
PART 5: GLOBAL REPORTS
- Installations by country
- Africa
- South Africa
- Americas
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Canada
- United Sates
- Asia/Pacific
- China
- India
- Japan
- South Korea
- Singapore
- Taiwan
- Australasia
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Europe
- Austria
- Belgium
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- Middle East
- Egypt
- Israel
PART 6: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
- Trends
- Patents
- Patent litigation
- Consortia and collaborations
- ASTM AM Center of Excellence
- America Makes
- Fraunhofer Society
- Women in 3D Printing
- Mobility Goes Additive
- Partnerships
- Other groups and associations
- AM standards
- ASTM Committee F42
- ISO/TC 261
- AM Standardization Collaborative
- AM activities at NASA
- AM in the U.S. Department of Defense
- U.S. government-sponsored R&D
- National Science Foundation
- DOD, DOE, and DOC
- National Institutes of Health
- U.S. national laboratories
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Government-sponsored R&D in Europe
- Academic activities and capabilities
- Research innovations
- The Americas
- Asia/Pacific
- Europe, Middle East, and Africa
- Research institutes with AM capabilities
PART 7: THE FUTURE OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
- Advancements suggest optimism
- Technical directions and trends
- Challenges ahead
- Automated AM production
- Emerging applications
- Electronics
- Food
- Medicine
- Other areas
- Workforce development
- Sustainability and a circular economy
- Landscape of AM startups
- Startups and early-stage investments
- New AM companies
- The future of AM
- Market forecast
- Growth drivers
- Obstacles
- Possible surprises in the future
- Closing comments
PART 8: SYSTEM MANUFACTURERS
- Asia/Pacific
- Aspect
- Bright Laser Technologies
- Eplus3D
- Farsoon
- Mimaki
- UnionTech
- XYZprinting
- ZRapid
- Germany
- Arburg
- BigRep
- DMG Mori
- EOS
- SLM Solutions
- Trumpf
- Voxeljet
- Other companies in Europe and the Middle East
- Additive Industries
- AddUp
- Admatec
- Digital Metal
- DWS
- Lithoz
- Prodways
- Renishaw
- Sinterit
- Sisma
- Stratasys
- XJet
- U.S.
- 3D Systems
- Carbon
- Desktop Metal
- Essentium
- Formlabs
- GE Additive
- HP
- Markforged
- Optomec
APPENDICES
- Appendix A: Glossary of terms
- Appendix B: System manufacturer matrix
- Appendix C: Metal AM comparison matrix
- Appendix D: 3D scanning systems
Report Development Team
Principal authors:
Ian Campbell, Wohlers Associates (UK)
Olaf Diegel, Wohlers Associates (New Zealand)
Ray Huff, Wohlers Associates (U.S.)
Joseph Kowen, Wohlers Associates (Israel)
Terry Wohlers, Wohlers Associates (U.S.)
Associate author:
Ismail Fidan, Tennessee Tech University (U.S.)
Editorial team:
Randall Newton
Clare Scott
Jenny van Rensburg
The following 91 individuals and organizations in 35 countries contributed to Wohlers Report 2023and served as important sources for information.
| Henrique Almeida | Polytechnic Institute of Leiria | Portugal |
| Fahmi Al-Shawwa | Immensa | United Arab Emirates |
| Hoda Amel | Manufacturing Technology Centre | UK |
| Leah Appelhans | Sandia National Laboratories | U.S. |
| Anton Aulbers | TNO | Netherlands |
| Nicolae Balc | Technical University of Cluj–Napoca | Romania |
| Jon Baxendale | National Composites Centre | UK |
| Kris Binon | Flam3D | Belgium |
| Klas Boivie | SINTEF | Norway |
| Gerrie Booysen | Central University of Technology | South Africa |
| David Bourell | University of Texas at Austin | U.S. |
| Milan Brandt | RMIT University | Australia |
| Stefanie Brickwede | Deutsche Bahn | Germany |
| David Bullock | Rapid 3D | South Africa |
| Aditya Chandavarkar | Indian 3D Printing Network | India |
| Andy Christensen | University of Cincinnati | U.S. |
| Deon de Beer | Central University of Technology | South Africa |
| Alex Doukas | Kinetic Vision | U.S. |
| Brian Drab | William Blair & Company | U.S. |
| Igor Drstvenšek | University of Maribor | Slovenia |
| Nicholas Eitsert | Finnegan LLP | U.S. |
| David Espalin | University of Texas at El Paso | U.S. |
| Thomas Feldhausen | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | U.S. |
| Matthew Friedell | Colorado Air National Guard | U.S. |
| Khalid Abdel Ghany | CMRDI | Egypt |
| Devon Hagedörn-Hansen | University of Johannesburg | South Africa |
| Shamil Hargovan | STS Capital Partners | Canada |
| Chaw Sing Ho | NAMIC | Singapore |
| Seyed Hosseini | RISE Research Institute of Sweden | Sweden |
| Tyler Hutin | William Blair & Company | U.S. |
| Jeng-Ywan Jeng | National Taiwan University of Science and Tech. | Taiwan |
| Kevin Jurrens | National Institute of Standards and Technology | U.S. |
| Ryan Kircher | Kircher Consulting | U.S. |
| Steve Kleimaker | Canada Makes | Canada |
| Samuel Leguizamon | Sandia National Laboratories | U.S. |
| Feng Lin | Tsinghua University | China |
| Henry Ma | STS Capital Partners | Canada |
| Giorgio Magistrelli | CASTRA | Bulgaria |
| Julien Magnien | Sirris | Belgium |
| Stephan Mansour | ASTM International | U.S. |
| Simon Marriott | GoProto | Australia |
| Manyalibo Matthews | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | U.S. |
| Greg Morris | Vertex Manufacturing | U.S. |
| Tom Mueller | Mueller Additive Manufacturing Solutions | U.S. |
| Kristin Mulherin | Women in 3D Printing | U.S. |
| Bernhard Müller | Fraunhofer IWU | Germany |
| Hideaki Oba | 3D Printing Industry Technology Association | Japan |
| John Obielodan | University of Wisconsin–Platteville | U.S. |
| Charles Overy | LGM | U.S. |
| Emiliano Pagani | University of Buenos Aires | Argentina |
| Keun Park | Seoul National University of Science and Tech. | Korea |
| Nick Pearce | Alexander Daniels Global | U.S. |
| Joris Peels | 3DPrint.com | Netherlands |
| Burak Pekcan | 90 | Turkey |
| Pat Picariello | ASTM International | U.S. |
| Sebastian Piegert | Siemens Energy | Germany |
| Alex Plotkowski | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | U.S. |
| Kateřina Podaná | Klastr Mechatronika | Czech Republic |
| Michele Pressacco | LimaCorporate | Italy |
| Michael Raphael | Direct Dimensions | U.S. |
| Olivier Rigo | Sirris | Belgium |
| Elisa Salatin | LimaCorporate | Italy |
| Kyle Saleeby | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | U.S. |
| Mika Salmi | Aalto University | Finland |
| Marco Salvisberg | GF Casting Solutions | Switzerland |
| Fabio Sant ́Ana | ISO/TC 261 | Brazil |
| Steffen Schmidt | Danish AM Hub | Denmark |
| Alexander Schmoeckel | AM Ventures | Germany |
| Luke Scime | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | U.S. |
| Christian Seidel | Fraunhofer IGCV | Germany |
| Mohsen Seifi | ASTM International | U.S. |
| Jorge Vicente Lopes da Silva | Renato Archer Information Technology Center | Brazil |
| Aidan Skoyles | Finnegan LLP | U.S. |
| Kinga Skrzek | Future Industry Platform | Poland |
| John Slotwinski | Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory | U.S. |
| Chris Spadaccini | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | U.S. |
| Jürgen Stampfl | Vienna University of Technology | Austria |
| Riccardo Toninato | LimaCorporate | Italy |
| Nora Touré | Women in 3D Printing | U.S. |
| Andrew Triantaphyllou | MakeAmazing | Greece |
| Kjeld van Bommel | TNO | Netherlands |
| Joel Vasco | Polytechnic Institute of Leiria | Portugal |
| Benoit Verquin | Cetim | France |
| John Vickers | NASA | U.S. |
| Neri Volpato | Federal University of Technology – Paraná | Brazil |
| Nicole Wake | GE Healthcare | U.S. |
| Matthew Waterhouse | 3D Metalforge | Singapore |
| John Wilczynski | America Makes | U.S. |
| David Wimpenny | Manufacturing Technology Centre | UK |
| Michal Zemko | Klastr Mechatronika | Czech Republic |
| Naiara Zubizarreta | ADDIMAT | Spain |
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