3D printing - ready for the future
Formext 2022 was a huge rally that brought together 3D printing stakeholders and enthusiasts from all over the world. The four-day fair is held every autumn in Frankfurt, Germany, and is the industry's most important international event. In addition to 3DStep, Finland had 8 exhibitors, a remarkable achievement for such a small country. In total, there were more than 800 exhibitors.
The fair highlighted the amazing current state of 3D printing and also showed the direction to aim for next. Powerful trends now include the rise of mass production, large-format printing, software that makes the overall process more efficient and advanced post-processing solutions. Increasingly, 3D printing is a radically cost efficient and better manufacturing solution than many traditional methods.
There are technologies to suit every need. Accurate 3D printing can be mass-produced from microscopic products of less than 1 mm using specialised equipment, for example for the electronics industry. Or large-scale printing can be used to make houses and elements from cement, metal products for industry, or large structures from plastics or recycled materials. In between, there is a huge range of so-called 'normal-scale' advanced equipment for single products or very high-volume product lines.
Formnext also featured a huge number of suppliers of 3D printing materials: metals, plastics, composites, recycled materials and biomaterials for all applications. There is a printing material for every imaginable application.
Behind the horizon, there's...
In general, 3D printing technologies and materials already cover almost every conceivable need of manufacturing industries, SMEs and innovators. From now on, quality will increase, costs will decrease, manufacturing technologies will become more sophisticated and software will become more intelligent.
So the most important question for the future is: what is coming up over the horizon? How will 3D printing intersect with other industries in unexpected ways? What will be the future of advanced products and production, services and ways of creating products? Solutions that we can't even imagine yet.
In the early days of the Internet in the 1990s, World Wide Web applications were very limited, such as websites and rudimentary information services. It was thought to remain a passing fad on university campuses. Today, the Internet is a critical enabler for societies and can be found on everyone's phone.
3D printing as a platform for innovation is at a similar stage as the Internet was in the 1990s. We have created enabling technologies and now is the time to harness them as an innovation engine for society and an enabler for sustainable future.
It is now, at the latest, that every company should climb up from riverbed and start to look at the environment, the opportunities and new directions. The same message was prominently displayed at several fair stands: "Think big!"
It's time to imagine, experiment, learn, be curious, deploy and implement!
3DStep is an experienced companion on this journey. Get in touch and let's see what we can achieve together.
Stepping stones to the future
100 examples of 3D printing in 2022. Free guide in Finnish
3D LEAP - a company's fast track to 3D printing.
3D & New materials fair 29.11 - 1.12.2022 Tampere.
3DStep team (email)