Of death and rebirth at Formnext 2024

Formnext, now in its 9th edition (not counting the digital edition during the COVID epidemic) takes place in Frankfurt, in the heart of Germany, which is in the heart of Europe, almost exactly in the middle between the giants of Asia and North America. As such, it represents the heart of the AM industry, even if European companies continue to face the hardship of living and working in a continent whose decision-makers are often too busy to innovate. Formnext is and will likely remain the center of the world of AM so whatever happens to the AM industry is reflected on the show floor. And vice-versa.

In some ways companies and AM market stakeholders arrive at the show carrying a baggage of challenges and frustrations but also achievements during the year that just passed. As they share these experiences with their peers, it all “balances out”. Those who had difficult years see that it’s not all bad and those who have had good years learn valuable lessons, even from those companies that are no longer around. This may sound terrible but it is physiological in any developing industry. Some companies don’t make it.

This Formnext 2024 edition recorded a larger overall number of exhibitors. Formnext VP Sascha Wenzler said the event saw 864 companies meeting 34,404 visitors on 54,000 sqm of exhibition space. “A strong community, changing the future of manufacturing in challenging times”. Wenzler also thanked participants for their openness and for their readiness to collaborate, urging everyone to take the positive energy out of the halls and into the next year.

While overall numbers are up slightly, several medium-sized companies that exhibited last year – sometimes even those that had booths reflecting bold promises and high hopes – did not make it to this show. We’ll discuss them and their specific situation in more detail further down but the point is that the AM industry as a whole will be able to learn from their experience, put their talent back to work, and begin a new phase of growth. It’s not as easy to do it as it is to write it. In many cases, a 3D printing company going out of business means that a lot of existing clients are left without support. Instead of changing AM technology providers, they may decide to abandon AM entirely. That’s an additional challenge for the industry but in other cases, those who remain – and have a solid foundation as well as a clear vision for the future – can benefit from an overall larger target audience.

Below we highlight some of the key industry trends we saw during this year’s show and how companies can learn from them.

Of rebirths and clear visions of the future

Which companies are solid and have a clear vision? These companies may also have been through challenging times but have come out on top. EOS is a perfect example. The company is now one of the overall market leaders of the AM industry (it’s a private company so we can’t be 100% sure but it’s up there). It always remained focused on two technologies: polymer laser PBF and metal laser PBF. But it got through a challenging period of stagnating growth a few years ago mainly in two ways. One is by strengthening its American division (where innovation is facilitated) and the other is by taking a calculated risk in technological disruption. This was done through AMCM. The result was seen clearly at Formnext: the new highly productive P3 NEXT polymer machine and the upcoming largest metal PBF machine in the world, capable of printing 820 x 820 x 1200 parts (or bigger).

Nikon SLM Solutions also provided a clear vision for its future. We discussed it with CEO Sam O’Leary and Hamid Zarringhalam, CEO of Nikon Advanced Manufacturing (full interview to be published next week) After refusing to sell to GE in 2016, SLM Solutions also had an uncertain future ahead but it was the first to believe in large multilaser PBF machines and is now selling more large format systems in Europe and North America than anyone. It achieved this by powering up its American branch with the support of its Japanese mother company.

One of the companies that is perhaps best positioned to benefit from metal PBF’s run at increasingly large parts is Solukon. The new SFM AT1500-S is capable of depowdering parts as heavy as 2-tons. Seeing it in person is impressive and shows how AM is a driver for other workflow technologies as well. While some companies struggle, the potential of the AM post-processing segment continues to attract companies such as Sinto, which introduced a new line of machines at Formnext.

GE, now Colibrium Additive, also went through a major re-organization, both as a group (GE) and as its additive division. The acquisition of Concept Laser and Arcam came just before one of the most difficult times in GE’s history. Today Colibrium Additive is once again seeing growing sales of its EBM platform (even as new players such as JEOL, Wayland and Freemelt enter the segment) along with increasing use of its L-PBF platforms by GE Aerospace (and others). And it’s got high hopes for its (long-awaited) metal binder jetting platform.

Other metal AM companies are doing fine after overcoming challenges thanks to the support of their mother companies, although they are farther behind. Renishaw and DMG Mori, but also Trumpf and Sisma (in the high margin niche of the jewelry AM segment) are still going strong.

Shouldering the weight of the AM world

The other market leaders in polymer AM, Stratasys and 3D Systems, are in the midst of yet another challenging period. However, everyone in the industry should remember that they generate a major share of all polymer AM hardware revenues (and a big chunk of materials as well). Both companies are making efforts to streamline their offer without sacrificing total revenues. They are doing so by focusing on highlighting their most effective and powerful applications, which mainly rely on prototyping and tooling. They also explore alternative processes – not too far from their core businesses, with Stratasys growing its NEO SLA business and 3D Systems growing its DLP (PSLA) business as an evolution of the Figure 4 experience.

Among the most notable applications of traditional SLA, 3D Systems showed us a redesign of investment casting patterns created in partnership with Space X (a major user of 3D Systems’ technology for its internal foundry) to make the patterns lighter and less costly using significantly lower quantities of materials. If it can successfully complete and integrate Desktop Metal and Markeforged, along with its existing technologies, Nano Dimension may be facing similar challenges as another major player in the industry. This is, of course, a very different context but requires similar adjustments in terms of consolidating the offer (which includes EnvisionTEC, ExOne and Admatec technologies among others).

Another company that went through a readjustment after years of rapid growth is HP. Although it entered the market in 2016, HP is one of the leaders in AM, implementing a strategy similar to EOS in terms of offering both (and only) polymer and metal technologies based on powder bed processes. Growth in HP’s polymer business has slowed down and its MetalJet (metal binder jetting) business has not yet taken off but a recent deal with one of the world’s biggest steel experts, Arcelor Mittal, may help to company identify and develop those applications that will get the tech off the ground, especially in the automotive segment (even more so than the previous partnership with GKN). Although more limited in scope, the company’s work with IndoMIM is also advancing and it’s interesting to note that both companies originate from India.

Also in the polymer segment, the company that has lived through the biggest exploit in 2024 is Axtra3D: However some of its direct competitors, Formlabs and Carbon also seem to be doing just fine, even though both companies did go through challenging periods, due to their overly rapid growth, not too long ago.

Axtra3D is growing its unique and powerful technology (combining the benefits of SLA and DLP) in a very organic way (a nice change from other companies’ strategies in the past) focusing specifically on production applications and materials. The company’s newest silicone, ceramic-filled, ESD and more resins are production-only, which means that if it all goes well, Axtra3D will be able to scale its hardware sales exponentially even without starting of with that as its primary (and necessary) objective. The company’s CSO, Rajeev Kulkarni, CSO at Axtra3D, is among the most experienced figures in the AM industry and that certainly counts for something.

At the same time, Formlabs is possibly experiencing one of the best times in its still short history, as it successfully made the transition from purely desktop systems to powerful professional and industrial machines.

Formlabs’ growth is technology-driven: the company makes hardware that dramatically reduces the cost of making the same parts its competitors make. Carbon, on the other hand, is increasingly application-driven. Its machines are costly but the company lets production applications, mainly in consumer products (sports equipment) tooling and automotive, drive sales. Both are successful, proving that there is no set recipe for making it in AM.

In this context it is interesting to note the trajectory of a company like DWS, which tried to expand its reach a few years back with the XFAB series (a competitor to Formlabs Form 1 and Form 2), but then reverted back to its core businesses in jewelry and dentistry casting, to now move into a new expansion period by addressing specific tooling and molding demands in the footwear and eyewear industries. Or take Photocentric, which focused its LED technology and material on high-productivity 3D printing. The company presented a system to increasingly automate these capabilities, for the happiness of AM service adopters such as Merit3D, which uses them to produce millions of parts.

Or yet again, take Anisoprint. The company has been through some of the most complex challenges a startup could go through, moving around from Russia, to Luxemburg to China to Singapore. All while Markforged was dominating the continuous fiber composites AM market. Now Markforged is struggling and its future is uncertain, while Anisoprint is once again on the rise, with ultra-experienced industry figure Tuan Tranpham as its President of Americas and Asia Pacific leading the charge. The company stuck it out and it is now reaping the fruits of this work.

Of Asian elephants in the room

While India is generally seen as an Asian partner by Western AM companies, China is seen as a threat. Not so much by end-users and AM service providers, who are reaping significant benefits from the rapid and more cost-effective availability of parts and systems (for example APWorks and Headmade Materials are actively partnering with Farsoon on systems and materials while Materialise closed an important collaboration with BLT) but by hardware manufacturers.

It is challenging for the likes of EOS, Nikon SLM Solutions, Colibrium Additive, 3D Systems and Stratasys to compete with China’s top OEMs (BLT, Farsoon, Eplus3D, Kings3D, HBD, TPM3D and UnionTech. In addition, South Korean company Lincsolution is growing rapidly offering one of the largest SLA platforms on the market, a massive and growing metal and polymer AM service center and developing its own metal binder jetting systems.

The size of these companies’ booths (among the largest on the show floor) represented this new balance of power in AM. If Formnext 2024 was able to grow even in a very challenging year for Western companies (not just in AM), it’s thanks to the investments made by these (and other) Asian companies. As a representative from HBD explained to VoxelMatters, their strength is that – while they compete very aggressively in the domestic market – they stick together and support each other in their push to conquer Western markets.

This is not as threatening as it sounds for Western OEMs. EOS (via AMCM) is working on a machine that is larger than any Chinese-made ones, while SLM Solutions is selling more large format machines than ever before and – according to Nikon Advanced Manufacturing CEO Hamid Zarringhalam – “welcomes the competition”. Colibrium’s EBM business is on the rise and not challenged by Chinese companies at this time. Generalist, global-reaching AM services like Proto Labs (but not Materialise) and others may be feeling some pressure but more specialized ones (for example in aerospace or consumer products) are doing fine. AM service networks like Xometry and MadeinAdd are also doing well and their business models are not easily replicated. BLT said it intends to quadruple its 200-system metal AM factory and this is something no European company can achieve at this time. It should not be ignored but welcomed as a sign of AM’s global impact. The industry can grow by at least 10-fold over the next ten years: there is room for everyone’s strategy.

Of extra large and extra small parts

While some larger companies refocus or restart, several smaller companies that have now been around for several years continue to grow sustainably. Their growth is based on proven applications in the production of extra large or extra small parts. The extra large space is driven by large format additive manufacturing (LFAM) with composite materials. Here Airtech Advanced Materials strengthened its role as the undisputed market leader by creating an ecosystem of leading hardware manufacturers such as CMS, Caracol and CEAD, among others. Both CMS, with the KREATOR A3, and CEAD, with the flexcube, introduced new hardware (while Caracol introduced a WAAM metal machine, the Vipra). Airtech continues to add new materials to its portfolio and demand is not slowing according to its Director of Additive Manufacturing, Gregory Haye. Even as new material players such as Xenia Materials have entered the market.

In the metal LFAM the segment’s growth is driven by the hardware companies themselves with no clear material leader. AML3D continues to lead worldwide but the segment is healthy with multiple players growing their presence at Formnext. MX3D and Gefertec showed off new applications while both WAAM3D and Caracol presented their new systems. For WAAM3D, the RoboWAAM XP is is largest system to date, capable of multiple processes, while for Caracol the Vipra represents the first venture into metal. Another company that continues to build upon strong foundations is SPEE3D, now the undisputed leader in cold spray metal AM. Both WAAM and cold spray may not be as “elegant” as some powder bed fusion technologies but their business potential and the benefits they bring are real and evident, as highlighted in the data published in VoxelMatters’ recent Metal AM Focus 2024 eBook.

As AM goes large it also goes small. Companies providing technologies to make extremely small and precise parts continue to grow. During the show, VoxelMatters spoke with Boston Micro Fabrication’s CEO John Kawola who confirmed the company is enjoying rapid adoption driven by serial production of microscopic parts, now launching its own micro veneer business in the dental segment. UpNano launched the NanoPro 2PP production microparts service filling up the vacuum left by BICO’s Nanoscribe. The service leverages the NanoPro VT, its new two-photon polymerization 3D printer and the first machine capable of industrial mass production of microparts. Even Nano Dimension, while working on the difficult task of completing and integrating its latest acquisitions, leveraged its experience with Fabrica Group to introduce a new micro 3D printing system, the Exa 250vx.

Of powerful niches and applications driven growth

Similar to large and small 3D printing, AM continues to perform very well in certain key niches such as technical ceramics and high-performance thermoplastics. These areas are relatively small but ensure high growth rates and significant profit margins on both materials and applications. The technical ceramics segment is led by Lithoz (DLP) and 3DCeram (SLA). With new machines and capabilities, such as Lithoz’ Cerafab S320 and a yet undisclosed high productivity system from 3DCeram, both companies target increasingly large parts and larger batch production for high-value applications, especially in the semiconductors industry. Specialized service providers such as Bosch Advanced Ceramics continue to develop valuable applications in this field and showed them off at Formnext.

The segment is also thriving with innovation. Xjet may have taken longer than expected to get off the ground (however ceramics was not initially intended to become its main business) but companies such as D3 are taking ceramics material jetting to a higher level of accessibility (even with materials such as silicon carbide) with powerful systems such as the new LAB II. Another startup, AMAERA, is close to full commercialization of its multi-material-capable technical ceramics material jetting technology, with interesting applications in embedded co-sintered electronics.

In the high-temperature thermoplastics segment (PEEK, PEKK, etc.), companies such as Roboze and INTAMSYS can wither the storm that has overwhelmed some of the lower-end filament system manufacturers due to their proven ability to process high-temperature plastics. Some innovation in this segment also comes from Verne, a startup developing a PEEK-specific SLS system to compete with EOS’ P810 at a much lower cost. For material giants such as Arkema and Evonik (though perhaps not as much for Solvay and Victrex) these materials still represent a driver for their involvement in AM.

Of the beauty of technology-driven innovation

Technology alone is no guarantee of success – this is one of the ailing points of AM – but some technologies developed for AM are true marvels and in general, we all hope they will succeed in identifying the valuable applications that will ensure their growth. Said of AMAERA, some of the most fascinating seen at Formnext 2024 include Xolo’s xolography for volumetric (holographic) 3D printing and Inkbit’s high-precision material jetting, which can deliver multi-density parts with the highest variation in elastic properties of any technology on the market today.

Both companies are aware that they need to make efforts to make their technologies more accessible. Xolo launched the Xell, a lower-cost system, while Inkbit is eyeing the possibility of offering part production services that do not require the high initial CapEx of purchasing the machine. This, buy the way, is good policy for any company introducing new AM technologies. Among the newest technologies seen at the show, the startup LEAM introduced an extrusion technology that looks to ensure higher layer adhesion by applying LED light to each layer, before the next layer is deposited. Their machine was displayed at the Siemens booth, along with many other innovative technologies, such as VLM robotics displayed collaborative robots working on metal parts, in the company’s ecosystem.

Another beautiful technology that will need to find more applications to consolidate its presence in the market is Aerosint’s multi-material L-PBF. In this sense, Aerosint’s new mother company, automotive components giant Schaeffler, will ensure the necessary financial strength to bring the new high-end system to industrial users while the partnership with Aconity for the multi-material engine will make the technology more accessible to universities and others who will develop the applications.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some companies are emerging that are purely application-driven. Two of the most interesting ones, both American, were not present at the show with booths but we still had the opportunity to meet with their management as they eye European expansion. Both focus on tooling as a key initial application.

Mantle, present through CEO and Co-founder Ted Sorom, uses a unique hybrid (additive and subtractive) version of a paste deposition technology to make highly precise formative tools in a cost-effective way using tough tool steel materials. Seurat now has highly respected AM industry figure Mike Kenworthy (who spent the last several years contributing to making Divergent and Czinger into what they are today) as its CPO/CTO. Mike told us that he first saw the laser capabilities developed at LLNL to ignite nuclear fusion about ten years ago and imagined that, in about a decade, they could be used to make parts. Now the time has come and while Seurat does envision directly making millions of final parts, the company also expects that large metal tools will be the first application to benefit from these massive production capabilities.

Of the war for desktop dominance

Another aspect of the AM industry that should not be underestimated when assessing its future growth potential is the impact that desktop systems are having and will continue to have. Here the battle is now between Prusa and Bambu Lab, but companies like Creality, Anycubic, and Elegoo are not out of the picture (Elegoo even hired designer Anouk Wipprecht to develop one of the most interesting community projects seen yet).

Together, these companies are selling millions of 3D printers (yes, millions). This means that they are constantly growing the number of young (and sometimes old) people who come in contact with AM technology. In the future, as they become part of the industrial manufacturing world, these people will not accept working with any other legacy process. At a nTop dinner event, we had the opportunity to speak with designers and engineers who truly worried about some of the news coming out of the industry because they simply could not imagine going back to designing parts with the constraints of formative and subtractive processes.

Prusa can leverage the unique sense of community its machines have created, even as it enters more professional areas of AM. At the same time, the company’s new CORE ONE desktop system is a clear attempt to challenge its main competitor directly, adding some features that will enable existing users to upgrade their system easily. Bambu Lab, however, has so far been able to do for desktop 3D printing what DJI did for drones, which is similar to what Apple did for computers and mobile phones. Bambu Lab products are both high-quality and cost-effective, with an elegant design.

At the Bambu Lab community event, we asked Dr. Ye Tao, the company’s founder and CEO, what enabled him to succeed where others have failed. He told us that it was his experience at DJI, where they were tasked with making huge efforts to seamlessly combine all these qualities into an affordable product that people would want to own. This approach is paying off but many Western companies, who were once dominating the segment, are not able to keep up in this extremely competitive scenario.

Of uniting for strength and the power of software

Formnext 2024 showed that getting together brings strength. There are several examples where companies have joined forces and most of these collaborations start from software. nTop, a rising star in computational engineering, is expanding its collaboration with Materialise, leveraging the company’s own unique experience in AM software and production services. nTop is emerging as a powerhouse in AM, by providing the perfect point of contact between AM end-users and AM technology providers. It does so by enabling applications that can only be produced using AM, which means that nTop users will continue to be a driving force in AM adoption.

Siemens is also creating a powerful ecosystem around its NX software. The company presented the Siemens Xcelerator, an open digital business platform that comprises an ecosystem of hardware and software suppliers and whose motto is “let’s advance manufacturing”. In line with this mission, Siemens and a selection of its partners in the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace demonstrated the latest advancements in AM automation and digitalization.

In the polymer LFAM segment, Airtech is bringing together hardware and material companies by collaborating with both AiBuild and ADAXIS, providers of software to run the robots that wield the polymer (and metal) extruders. Caracol, one of the key players in the LFAM segment, regularly organized conferences with its competitors to take on the challenges of the segment as a whole. This Formnext was no different.

Another important type of union was proposed by IAM3DHub. The Barcelona-based organization is working to bring together several European national organizations of AM companies, as well as educational institutions, into a single entity that can work to promote and support AM within local and continental institutions and legislators. Unlike in the US and China, AM is simply not being considered by EU policy-makers and this has to change for the industry to scale.

Of material transitions

After this general injection of positivity, we must also get to the bad news. Among the most troubling stories that plagued the AM industry in 2024 – and was visible at Formnext – is the decision by several large material groups to divest. These are companies that have pumped significant funds into developing the AM materials  (and sometimes even the AM services) infrastructure and their decision to leave AM means that AM is not delivering the expected results.

This does not come as a surprise. BASF first spun out its Forward AM materials and services business and now – according to some reports – Forward AM is filing for insolvency in Germany (even though the company was present with a large booth at Formnext). ARMOR group reportedly closed its KIMYA high-performance 3D printing filaments division. Previously, Mitsubishi Chemical and SABIC had divested (although they have not entirely left the AM industry). Syensqo (formerly Solvay) is also still present in AM with PEEK and PESU filaments but decided not to exhibit at Formnext, showing AM is a minor interest for the company. Same for Ensinger. But most of these companies still participate with their AM products in more vertical material shows such as JEC World for composites.

Many large metal companies still see materials as an opportunity although, Oerlikon had to restructure its business (with a greater focus on powder materials) while Sandvik both restructured and gave up its interest in metal AM service provider BEAMIT. In both cases, the result has been a significant scale-down but Oerlkikon seems more ready to restart. GKN (metal material & services and polymer services) and Jabil were also not present at this year’s show. Their absence is not a good omen but there are no indications that the companies are divesting from the AM materials or services market at this time.

In most of these cases, the divestment was the direct result of exaggerated expectations. Other companies, such as Evonik and Arkema, who have e been around the AM industry for much longer, are focusing on specific business areas (such as PEEK and PA12 for Evonik, mostly PEKK and PA11 for Arkema). They were among the first third-party materials companies to enter the industry (together with Royal DSM, whose AM business is now part of Stratasys, via Covestro). According to what both Sylvia Monsheimer, VP of Industrial 3D Printing at Evonik and Brad Rosen, Global Business Director of 3D Printing at Arkema, told VoxelMatters they don’t intend to exit the market anytime soon. Another company, RAHM, is entering the industry as a raw material provider for photopolymer manufacturing, showing that these divestments may be a temporary matter.

Of loud defections

The worst news comes from the companies that were not at Formnext because they are no longer around or are experiencing difficulties that may endanger their industrial continuity. Each one of these requires a specific analysis but in many cases, it is a matter of either bad strategy or bad timing. Nexa3D is perhaps the most evident. The company was known to be navigating through troubled waters but canceled its participation just ahead of the show, leaving a space where its booth was expected to be. Nexa3D’s over-diversified product offer and some dubious acquisitions (namely XYZ and Essentium), along with delays in product development, go down as bad strategy. Only one successful product, facing off with the likes of Carbon and Formlabs, was not enough to ensure the company’s continuity.

Another dramatic, although expected, absence from Formnext was Velo3D. From former heights as one of the largest metal AM hardware manufacturers by revenue, the company is now just a shadow of its former self, leaving many of its users wondering if the company will be able to guarantee continuity. By pushing support-free capabilities and striving for user-friendly production, Velo3D pushed many of its competitors to do better and the metal AM segment as a whole benefited from this. The company reportedly had major takeover offers when it was at its peak so the decision to license its technology to SpaceX for just a few million dollars when its valuation had hit rock bottom is an example of bad timing. But we still had the opportunity to meet with Velo3D’s former CMO, Renette Youssef, who is now in charge of marketing at Continuum Powders. A perfect example of how it’s always possible to refocus and restart. Especially fitting in a company whose core business is “reclaiming” metal materials for AM processes.

Among filament extrusion hardware manufacturers (and filament manufacturers), UltiMaker’s absence made a lot of noise this year, as Zortrax’s troubles made a lot of noise last year. In both these cases, it seems to have been mostly a matter of a bad marketing strategy, targeting mass media communication and mass visibility without having a mass-market product. This strategy can work for one company one time (namely Formlabs) but it doesn’t work for all companies all the time, especially in a crowded segment such as FFF 3D printing. The same could be said of the many European filament manufacturers that have either already closed or did not attend Formnext this year, while Chinese companies such as Polymaker and eSun seem to be doing just fine.

Raise3D was also absent from this edition, which was surprising, especially considering the company’s large participation last year, with the launch of a new DLP system. In this case, it seems more of a matter of bad timing, as Raise3D had progressively grown its presence and it made sense for the company to enter other areas. But maybe it did so too soon and should have consolidated its other activities first. We also connected with Atum, a DLP hardware company, that had a large booth last year and was present only through the company’s Director and Founder, Tristram Budel, this year. We met with him and learned that the company has scaled down its business, refocusing as an “on-demand DLP hardware manufacturer”, and already obtaining positive results in terms of sales. In this case, the challenges deriving from an admittedly weak communication strategy were turned into a new opportunity.

And that’s the key to everything. Companies may come and go, and some will choose to divest, refocus, explore, and prioritize vertical segments and shows, but additive manufacturing and Formnext are here to stay. It’s not about winning. In this case, participating is everything, because new opportunities in the AM industry will always emerge and it’s important to be there to catch them.

PS At VoxelMatters we tend to focus on the positive aspects of the industry, trying to understand where the next opportunities lie. However, we know it’s important to also understand the issues and the challenges. For a full, uncompromising review of all the good but also the bad from this past edition, I recommend checking out VoxelMatter Research & Analysis collaborator Pawel Slusarczyk‘s LinkedIn newsletter here.