Additive transition - From Nice to Have --> Need to Have

Additive manufacturing is not a new or 'future' technology, which I sometimes hear when visiting companies and factories in the Nordics and Baltics. 3D-printing has been around for a long time, way longer than I've been in this business!

I started my journey with 3D-printing in 2007, with an old classic, the Z-corp Z510 binder jetting printer. At that point, working with 3D-renderings and visualisation for architects, I was blown away by the budgets spent on creating paper or wood models of buildings and sometimes complete blocks of buildings. Most of the time, the models were white and had rather simple geometry. I was also inspired by some visits at Fosters & Partners in London who at that time already had a pretty serious 3D-printing workshop running. This was my first venture into the world of 3D-printing and already back then it was all about saving time and money for the architects.

Since my time ended in the world of architecture many different printers and technologies have passed through my door and have also been an important part of my professional work. I've used machines running 3D-printing services and I've sold printers in B2B sales. Prusa's, Formlabs, gCreate (RIP, but thanks Gordon LaPlante for letting me visit you in Brooklyn, a visit and trip I'll never forget), Minifactory, Meltio, Ultimaker, Nexa3D, Markforged and many more.

Since those days AM have most of the times been a "Nice to Have" opportunity to explore what kind of doors this new technology can open. Some plastic prototypes have been produced and a unhealthy amount of Benchy's have been printed. Of course there are always some really good exceptions and we have some large manufacturing companies in Sweden who's been driving and developing serious and large scale AM strategies the past 10-20 years. BUT looking at the numbers of business here in my region who is manufacturing a product or acting as sub suppliers there is a very small % who actually can present a solid, well thought through and scalable AM strategy...

Times are changing

Working with mainly larger, more capable / "professional" (professional is a stupid term since even a 1000 EUR printer can be used in a professional way for the perfect fitting application/situation) solutions for AM the past years, the trend has been clear, we are slowly entering the "Need to Have" - phase. One can easily point at the Gartner Hype Cycle or that we're Crossing the Chasm and I think its all related but whats actually been happening the last years is that the solutions for AM and services supporting it have matured rapidly. Also companies have been 3D-printing without a real business purpose for many years now and are getting ready to take the next step.

Today its fully possible to replace some injection moulding processes with 3D-printing (internally or externally), its possible to replace steel tools with composite and then rapidly distribute those tools globally to other factories or customers in your corporation. Values like time and money saved in one location can then be copy&pasted rapidly and widely, developing an already good business case into an amazing business case. Companies are starting to look at 2-3 year plans where massive fleets of 100+ machines spread out but connected together is possible and manageable.

Some companies (small and large) are still stuck in the "Nice to Have", "We're prototyping" phase, but an increasingly amount of manufacturing industry starts too see and realise mainly time savings possible by adopting AM on a wider scale. When it gets clear what one machine can achieve in one location and scaling that into a larger perspective the "Need to Have" feeling starts to appear. Also its not only about new technology and efficiency but its about competition and leading the pack.

The greatest reward for me doing what I'm doing (part from making sure the company I work for is continuing to grow and our customers rating us as their top supporting supplier) is to be able to follow my customers through the Nice to Have --> Need to Have journey.

I often get to be part of the wake up moment, sometimes just holding hand, other times pushing the wagon, sometimes pulling a wagon with square wheels in deep mud, but at the end celebrating positive business outcomes, improved work environment and increased growth/profitability together!

The past 17 years in this industry has been like a rocket ride with a shaky descent back to earth. Although it's been an amazing ride, I'm really looking forward to the coming 17 years in Additive Manufacturing and what it will bring.

We're on the runway, cleared for takeoff!