Sculpteo releases 2020 State of 3D Printing Report

"With additive manufacturing evolving at such a rapid pace, the best is yet to come."

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Sculpteo has released the State of 3D Printing Report 2020 in which more than 50% of respondents reported their use of 3D printing for scaled production means.  

At 52%, the application of 3D printing for production parts has increased slightly from last year’s survey (48%) but more than tripled since Sculpteo’s first State of 3D Printing Report in 2015 (17%). Sculpteo CEO Clément Moreau says the results of the latest report leave him in ‘no doubt that 3D printing is changing the manufacturing landscape.’

It is the sixth consecutive year that Sculpteo has conducted this study, with the 2020 edition surveying more than 1,600 manufacturing professionals and executives from across Europe (48.1%), North America (30%) and Asia (13.1%). More than 60% of respondents have an engineering background and around 22% are C-level executives. They operate in a variety of industry segments, from industrial goods to healthcare to education.

“Our sixth study shows that many industries are consolidating their use of 3D printing as its role becomes more defined within their manufacturing processes,” commented Moreau. “Users are becoming more mature, but also more eager to try new applications, technologies and materials. With additive manufacturing evolving at such a rapid pace, the best is yet to come.”

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The State of 3D Printing Report 2020 showed that 52% of respondents are using 3D printing for production, while 68% apply the technology for prototyping purposes, and of those, 29% print at volumes of 100,000 parts of more. Around 80% of respondents have been using 3D printing technology for more than two years and 31% use it daily, hence Moreau’s description of ‘mature’ users.

Though nearly 30% of users had invested more than $100k in 3D printing in the last year, an increase of 5% on 2019’s figures, 59% say the cost of entry is a barrier to their increased adoption of the technology - More than 50% of respondents also noted that they use powder bed fusion and binder jetting, whether metal or polymer, through external services. More than half also highlight education as a barrier to adoption, while new materials and more reliable technologies are demanded by 55% of the respondents.

The full State of 3D Printing Report 2020 can be accessed here: stateof3dprinting.com

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