Research Articles

3D printing offers an efficient method to improve current manufacturing limits across economic sectors such as transport, construction, and medical and dental industries allowing rapid prototyping and on-site production and repairs.

According to research by leading business intelligence firm IDTechEx, published as "3D Printed Materials Market 2020-2030 - COVID Edition", the market for 3D printing materials has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but plenty of market drivers point to a strong future.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the 3D printing sector and its end users (such as printing bureaus), new directions of travel have nonetheless emerged. Some opportunities have even been directly prompted by the pandemic.

Without doubt, the impact of COVID-19 is being felt at a pivotal point in the evolution of 3D printing.

The unique new IDTechEx Research report, Microcontrollers and Single-board Computers 2016-2026, is the first to reveal the big picture developing from the close relationship between these devices. It provides newly researched forecasts leading to figures such as $300bn in 2026 for SBC alone.

The first industrial robot, Unimate, went into operation at a General Motors plant in 1961. Over the next few decades the use of industrial robot arms in the automotive industry matured.

Ten short years ago 3D printing was almost the exclusive remit of rapid prototyping. Nobody was putting 3D printing into mass production back then.

The 3D printing industry is still going from strength to strength. According to the IDTechEx report 3D Printing 2015-2025: Technologies, Markets, Players this industry is set to grow from $1bn in 2012 to $20bn in 2025.

A new wave of printers targeting printed circuit boards are enabling rapid, local prototyping while protecting company IP, finds IDTechEx Research.

In 2012 a tsunami of media hype began around consumer 3D printing that turned a lacklustre 30-year-old technology into a household name and created massive growth in the industry even among large established players.

The 3D printing industry continues to go from strength to strength. So much so that, depending upon your definition of "robot", half of the market value for industrial robotics will be robots working as 3D printers by 2026.

Since the commercialization of the first 3D printer in the 1980s, the breadth of end users taking advantage of this technology has continued to grow.