Additive manufacturing, popularly known as 3D printing, has gained a lot of attention in recent years. It has been heralded as a technology to bring about the next industrial revolution. Growth figures lend support to this view. The 3D printing market has grown rapidly, and growth has only accelerated in recent years. However, the technology remains constrained by limitations on speed, material choice and the size of objects that can be fashioned, experts and industry professionals said.
Li Lei stood watching as a 3D printer began creating a small sculpture at an industry expo in Shanghai on Thursday.
Li, who went to the expo to check out possible applications of the technology for his company, stared as the printer's extruder, moving in tiny increments, pumped out a thin layer of material that would serve as the sculpture's base. He kept watching as the device produced the next layer, and the next, and the next.
Almost 10 minutes later, the 3D printer had completed what appeared to be the roughly 1- centimeter-tall base of the sculpture.
At that point, Li had seen enough. Out of patience, he walked away.
"With such a slow printing speed, what can this technology be used for?" he asked at the Fourth World 3D Printing Technology Industry Expo, an event held in Shanghai from Tuesday to Thursday.
It is a fair question.
Additive manufacturing, popularly known as 3D printing, has been heralded as the technology that will ignite the next industrial revolution. Supporters promise that the technology will enable on-demand production, allow manufacturers to skip traditional production steps and create objects that are difficult to make with traditional manufacturing processes.
China's central government has also thrown its weight behind the technology by holding up 3D printing as a key part of its "Made in China 2025" plan to upgrade the country's manufacturing sector.
Yet, although the technology is into its third decade, it remains something a novelty in manufacturing due to its limitations.
Promise aside, 3D printing remains constrained by limitations on speed, material choice and the size of objects that can be created, according to experts and industry professionals.
Growing fast
Looking at the numbers, one can understand the optimism pervading the industry. The industry has grown rapidly over the last two decades and growth has only accelerated in recent years. The global 3D printing market grew by 25.9 percent year-on-year to $5.17 billion in 2015, according to an annual report issued by the consulting firm Wohlers Associates in April.
Over the last 27 years, the market has expanded at an average annual rate of 26.2 percent, the report said. In 2014, the market grew by 34.9 percent, its highest growth rate in 17 years.
As a latecomer to the industry, China's 3D printing industry has grown rapidly since 2011. From 2012 to 2014, the country's 3D printing market expanded from 1 billion yuan ($152.29 million) to 4 billion yuan, said Luo Jun, CEO of the World 3D Printing Technology Industry Association.
And in 2015, the market nearly doubled in size from the previous year to 7.8 billion yuan.
At the expo, Luo projected that the market's value will likely surpass 10 billion yuan this year.
In terms of units, China's 3D printer shipments exceeded 34,000 units in 2014, according to a report from International Data Corp (IDC) in January. The 2015 figure is expected to be more than 77,000.
