Have you bought it, or have you made it?

3D Systems appoints will.i.am as Chief Creative Officer (CCO)

In a surprising move for will.i.am and for 3D Systems, the company has issued a press release stating:

January 8, 2014 – 3D Systems today announced that will.i.am, global entertainer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, joined 3DS as its Chief Creative Officer. In this leadership role, will.i.am will inspire, shape and drive all of 3DS’ initiatives to mainstream the use of 3D printing through major collaborations with creative brand partners, innovative global campaigns and educational grand challenges designed to grow the popularity of 3D printing.

The addition of will.i.am to the 3DS team brings tremendous talent, vision and influence, and underscores the company’s commitment to democratize 3D printing.  3DS plans to leverage will.i.am’s international creative industry network to immediately extend its reach into select high-end fashion accessories houses, leading entertainment and life style brands and key corporate sponsored educational and sustainability initiatives.

“3D printing lets you get involved, be a part of the creative process and the story of the items you make,” said will.i.am, Chief Creative Officer, 3DS. ”For me it’s a dream come true to work with 3DS, the company that invented 3D printing and launched an entire platform that all other industries depend on. I am so thrilled to begin to fuse my creativity and experience with the technology that is poised to change how we create, make and express ourselves.”

 “We’re excited to partner with a pop culture influencer of will.i.am’s caliber who really gets 3D printing and its potential,” said Avi Reichental, President and CEO of 3DS. “will.i.am is a global tastemaker who embodies the essence of creativity and entrepreneurship, and we are fortunate to have him as our guide on this exciting journey.”

Original press release

Do consumers really want to 3D print?

It's far from clear whether the average consumer wants to 3D print. Take this trend as evidence:

MakerBot industries started out making kits for 3D printers. They then discovered that the market for printer kits (i.e. a set of parts) was vanishingly small. So they started to produce pre-built 3D printers and eventually withdrew the kit market altogether. With 3D Printers, it appears, consumers want a complete product, not a construction project. Why should it be any different for any other product category?

This shift of MakerBot's business no doubt went against the 'maker' roots of their enthusiastic and motivating CEO, Bre Prettis, but he had no choice if his new venture funding partners were to build a scale business.

MakerBot and their investors also discovered that very few people have 3D design skills, and so initiated an effort called Thingiverse to provide (and share) downloadable 3D objects for 'making' on a home 3D printer. No doubt some 'maker' or 'arts and design' users do adapt these designs .... but one cannot help thinking that if the object that comes out of your printer is the same as the download file, you might very well just buy a manufactured item.

Consumers may not have the time or skills or patience for 3D home printing. And the trend continues ...

MakerBot have announced at CES 2014 (Las Vegas) a new 3D content store which is being hailed by some as the 'iTunes' of 3D printing. Listen to how this is described:

"The game-changing new MakerBot digital store features a host of professionally designed digital 3D models, created by an in-house team at MakerBot, made to be simple and easy to purchase and print with one-touch." "3D printing can be a bit daunting from the outside, so we’ve created all these 3D designs that you can buy individual models or as a collection - a bit like songs - and create fun for kids and adults alike," admits Bre Pettis.

Previously MakerBot offered a cloud-based design sharing service called Thingiverse, which allowed users to upload their designs and share them with a community and access them from anywhere with a MakerBot 3D printer. The new digital store sits alongside the Thingiverse service, augmenting it with professional, proven designs that are guaranteed to work, and launches with six different collections of models primarily based around children’s toys.

The models can be picked up individually for $0.99 or as whole collections of models for $9.99 and include mini characters spanning every day life, construction, dragons, knights, kings and queens, as well as little pet animals for the kids. For adults, the model collection also includes a series of rocket ships and “famous flyers” – models inspired by key real-life aircraft from history.

What the next step in this trend? Yes, you guessed it: just ordering the product from a supplier? That's got to be even simpler than the one-button automated software process that Makerbot are implementing between their 3D iTunes web site and a printer in your home. Seems over complex .... why not leave it to the supplier to decide how to fulfil (and customise to user preferences) your order .... from a shelf (inventory), or on demand 3D printing? Why does a home need a 3D printer? Do consumers really want 'distributed manufacturing'?

The trend which MakerBot (the poster-child of consumer 3D printing) seems to be admitting is that consumers want whole products, not processes. An order button on Amazon is surely no different from a 'Make Button' if there is no design involved. Consumers will always jump to buy the products they want, and care less about the process behind them.

It's a fact: Consumers don't want to make things, unless they are a maker. They don't want to design things, unless they are a designer. And they don't want to have lots of equipment lying around the house just to be able to order the products they want .... they already have Smartphones for that.

Weigh up the following equation:  Amazon delivery in just a few days (or less) .v. ownership and maintenance of a 3D printer) only able to produce simple plastic models. No contest. One is a CapEx+OpEx model, the other an OpEx model. Unless MakerBot intend to give printers away for free.

And why not have Amazon decide whether to carry inventory or print on demand in their warehouses?

So what is MakerBot (and 3D Systems with Cube and Cubify) really creating? They are creating a new toy and hobby, not a manufacturing revolution.

And think about this: won't all the really interesting new products that consumers will want next (such as all the other complex gadgets at CES 2014) be far, far, more complex than any 3D printer will be able to create, no matter how sophisticated or expensive?

Discuss. What have I missed?

Those who are familiar with this blog will know that some of the 'thought experients' I set up should not be read as indicating what I personally believe. In the next article we'll look more closely at the tangled relationships that 3D printing creates between a product, its design, and its production and consumption, hoping to shed light on what will happen in 3D printing over the next few years

The 3D printing acquisition juggernaut

Remember the merger of Stratasys and Objet? Or the acquisition of ZCorp by 3D Systems? As we observed, consolidation is not necessarily a sign of a perfectly healthy industry. It could mean companies are struggling to go it alone. It could also signify that the Additive Manufacturing industry is shifting from products to services, a process known as 'servitization'. When an industry shifts to services there is always a rush to become THE total solution provider.

Preeminent among the the acquirers is 3D Systems. We have reported on their long history of acquisitions before. What looked like perfectly good companies all became units within the 3D Systems umbrella.

Why are good companies with good products not able to make it on their own? There are two factors:

1. In an industry shifting to services, product companies lose their route to market. 3D Systems is now that route to market.

2. Despite the media hype and inflated expectations of a 3D revolution, Additive Manufacturing is a quiet evolution. It is a niche within manufacturing, slowly absorbed, one part at a part. It is not one technology - but many different processes each requiring its own hardware - a set of niches within a niche.

And more and more acquisitions are announced almost every month. The latest by 3D Systems include:

Figulo a specialist in the 3D printing of ceramics and whose products and services will now be marketed under the 3D Systems brand CeraJet.

TheSugarLab, a specialist in the 3D printing of edible products and whose products and services will now be marketed under the 3D systems brand ChefJet.

Village Plastics, a supplier of 3D printing filaments.

Gentle Giant Studios, a 3D sculpting, VFX and 3D scanning specialist sitting on a large body of content.

3D Systems now describes itself as "a leading provider of 3D printing centric design-to-manufacture solutions including 3D printers, print materials and cloud sourced on-demand custom parts for professionals and consumers alike in materials including plastics, metals, ceramics and edibles."

3D Systems have been patiently waiting for AM to go mainstream for over twenty years. It was the RepRap community and the companies it spawned (notably Makerbot and Ultimaker) that opened up the consumer, 'maker' and the arts and design opportunities. Another factor was the emergence of on-demand, self-service, Web-based bureau services such as Shapeways, iMaterialize and Sculpteo. (I call these '3D Experiences'. 3D Systems now has its own 'Cube' series of products and services.)

The rush is on.

3D Systems appears to be trading R&D dollars for acquisitions. For CEO Avi Reichental the challenge will be cross-selling among its businesses and integration of the very diverse portfolio of products it owns. To what extent such acquisitions, as opposed to innovation, can bolster the company's share price will only become evident once the hype around 3D printing dies down.

3D Systems announces 3D Printing 2.0

Avi Reichental, CEO of 3D Systems, announces his exciting new products and services at Euromold 2013 and CES 2014. Don't you just love how this guy asks his staff to present the new products, and then interrupts them and prevents them speaking .... almost giving them a 'Sales' lesson live on camera.

Everything is a 3D printer these days

Our theory is that there is "No such thing as 3D Printing", but it appears that the media believe otherwise. To them, everything is a 3D Printer! This stance is fueling unrealistic expectations for Additive Manufacturing.

The hype works like this: The more objects that are presented as able to be "3D Printed", the more a "3D Printer" sounds to the uninformed observer like a current day (not futuristic) magical technology.

The latest examples include a circuit board/PCB "3D Printer", a "3D Printer" that prints disposable panties and a "3D Printer" that knits jumpers.  In all three cases the media described these innovations as "3D Printers". Not only are utterly different from each other, but they share little to nothing in common with mainstream Additive Manufacturing technologies.

Here are the latest "3D Printers":

The EX1 PCB Printer layers silver particles onto paper (or any suitable surface) to rapidly create an electronic circuit board. Components can then be soldered in place. It uses two ink jet cartridges to dispense two different chemicals which mix to produce a silver image.

Tamicare Cosyflex layers natural rubber polymers and cotton fibers to create a stretchy, biodegradable fabric. It feels like a woven cloth. It sprays the raw materials moving along an automated production line. It certainly looks like no "3D Printer" I have ever seen.  Its inventors claim the same approach can be used to create textiles from materials such as silicon, teflon, viscose and polyamide, and do so with combinations of patterns, embossing and perforations. The process is quick and can produce a pair of pants in under three seconds (which equates to up to 10 million units a year).

The Stoll knitting machine is also now dubbed a 3D printer. According to some reports it "3D prints" clothes. In fact, it reads measurements from a software application and then automatically knits them with minimal waste. The final garment still needs to be stitched together. A company called Applatch is running a campaign on KickStarter to fund their own Stoll machine so as to better serve their customers with custom fit sweaters that meet the company's sustainability and ethical goals, i.e. using the minimum naturally sourced materials.

What do these three stories of "3D Printing" tell us? What exactly is "3D Printing"? Watch this space for our definition coming soon.

There is no such thing as "3D Printing"

We've said it before, and we'll say it again. There is no such thing as "3D Printing". What there is instead are over thirty different additive manufacturing (layer by layer) processes (the majority of which oriented in the field of rapid prototyping). They share little in common.

We listed some of these in our article "Hype and Hope in 3D Printing". We also talked about the 3D Printing industry as being a set of "Niches within a Niche".

These realities have significant implications. 

Without a standard 3D Printing platform there won't be an exponential growth curve as occurred with the PC revolution leading to today's cloud computing giants. Yet such is the hype generated by the 3D Printing providers and the media (primarily) that even our most respected AM industry analysts are somewhat embarrassed. As a result, they are finding themselves in the unenviable position of having to 'play down' expectations when they are invited to speak on-stage at industry events.

If you have not already done so, I do recommend watching three informative presentations from TCT Show + Personalize '13 in a track called 'Mythbusting 3D Printing'. The presentations are both funny and revealing.

Firstly, Joris Peels compares the hype around 3D printing to claims for a 'new' but very very old technology called Rotary Desktop Fabrication (RDF):

Todd Grimm lists a raft of new product announcements, but also sets a tone of caution for their incremental impact:

And finally, Phil Groves explains why "3D printing is NOT going to be as big as the Internet", despite claims to the contrary from industry leader 3D Systems.

There is hype and hope for 3D Printing. Next up, our view on what could be happening. Watch this space.

Randomized porosity grown into 3D Printed Object

Since our original post about Within Technologies the use of their software which models 3D Printable objects in ways that mimic nature (complex internal and external optimized structures) has expanded.

In this video, EOS explain how they are working with Within Technologies to 3D Print parts with extreme degrees of structural complexity. Here, a heat ex-changer is shown designed for Formula 1 racing cars. The strength/weight ratio is significantly increased.

A hip 'cup' for human implant is also shown. It was grown in titanium by the Within Medical team. It's structure includes zones of randomized porosity. This allows for bone and tissue growth into the artificial joint.

Such geometries are impossible to achieve using any other manufacturing process.



Within Technologies is a UK engineering consultancy and software development firm who have dramatically advanced 3D design software in ways that enable the modelling of latticed micro-structures and variable density surface skins combined with "Bio-inspired" shapes.

At the core of the software lies an optimization engine which takes input parameters such as desired weight requirements, maximum displacement and stiffness. It is then able to create an optimized component design with a variable density lattice structure and surface skin which meets your exact specification. The optimized component can then be manufactured using one of many additive manufacturing machines (plastics or metals) to create products.

SolidConcepts 3D Prints Metal Gun using DLMS

Demonstration proves that 3D Printed metal parts are ready for 'end use' contexts



Read the whole story on the SolidConcepts blog and see a demonstration and explanation of DLMS (Direct Laser Metal Sintering)

3D Printed Titanium Glasses

They may be pricey, but that may not last for long. Melotte, a 3D printing company in Belgium which specializes in metals, has teamed up with a Belgium designer Patrick Hoet, to develop the first 3D Printed eyewear in titanium.

Customized versions can be delivered in a week from order. 3D scanning of the customer determines size. Orders can be placed through up market opticians.

3D Printing will level the playing field for all such optics in the future, with custom designs approaching the price of today's off the shelf specs. After all, if you can 3D print one design, why not any customization. As many have observed "With 3D Printing, complexity and variety comes for free."

Specialized software for use by opticians will need to be developed to manage the 3D model customization process. Perhaps Digital Forming can help.

3D Social Networks help find 3D Printers, Designers, Customers

The reality of 3D printing, in any material or process, is that you need skills in both 3D modeling and access to a suitable 3D printer. That means having skills in the 3D printing process, or outsourcing to a bureau service like Shapeways, iMaterialize or Sculpteo. As those companies have demonstrated, producing great prints of high quality in different materials and finishes is not so easy, demanding specialised skills and access to expensive equipment and maintenance services. Any 3D print bureau will confirm this. There is a gulf between what is achievable at home and that which is available via a reliable 3D service.

A new kind of social 3D network is appearing which fixes part of this problem: the gulf between those who can and cannot design 3D models using software tools, and those who own or do not own a suitable 3D printer. Bringing such community members together is the mission of new Web services such as MakeXYZ and 3DHubs.

These sites are more than repositories of objects. They contain the details of people, the printers they have access to, and the 3D design skills they claim, in effect creating a 3D Printing social network.

3DHubs claims to be the "Worlds largest network of 3D Printers allowing anyone to 3D print around the corner." And MakeXYZ has just one goal "To help people make stuff by linking people who need something made with 3D printers and CAD designers in their neighborhoods."

Cool indeed.

Amazingly, both sites, while of US origin, allowed me, from my home office in the UK, to find several 3D Printers local to where I live. Literally, just around the corner! That's impressive. My local office supplies, art supplies, hobby or light machine shop may not yet have a 3D Printer, but I now know where I can go to get access to one.

Even if I could find a retail outlet near me offering access to 3D Printers would they be of the right kind? Could I print in the material of my choice? Would the staff have the skills to complete my job to my satisfaction? And would they be able to connect me to qualified 3D designers to help with my project? In short, what value would they add?

As a maker or small business looking to inject additive manufacturing into my workflow, my options are 1) To invest in a printer 2) To find suitable local partners 3) To find a shop or outlet offering access to a printer or 4) Use a 3D print bureau. My choices are expanding every day. The choice I will make will depend on a cocktail of considerations ranging over process, material, control, cost, finishing and access to support and design skills. Moreover, my choice will depend on whether I am printing one off jobs where each part is unique, or related jobs with degrees of mass-customization.

For all these reasons it is not yet clear who is going to own the 3D Print experience for makers and small businesses who don't want to invest in 3D printers of their own (plus everything that entails in terms of training and maintenance.) As a first step therefore, why not try MakeXYZ and 3DHubs yourself. Type in your zip or post code.

You may be surprised by who and what you find.

Dad 3D Prints a prosthetic hand for his son

Sometimes a story is so good it's worth just passing it on and adding nothing:



Also see Medics are printing in 3D today

3D Printing UAVs gets you closer to the customer

In this video, UAV Solutions, a small manufacturer who specialize in the design, supply and support for custom Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), explains how it uses Stratasys 3D Printers as part of its manufacturing mix.

This case study illustrates one of the important futures for AM .... allowing small manufacturers to take control of the design and production process in order to better serve their customers.

Liquid metal 3D Printing using magneto-hydrodynamics

If we've said it before, we'll say it again ... "3D Printing" is a set of niches within niches. Here is yet another emergent process .... liquid metal 3D printing using magneto-hydrodynamics  Think 'inkjet' with liquid metal.

Start up Vader Systems believes it can bring this technology to market just as has occurred with RepRap style fused deposition modelling (FDM) of thermoplastics. They intend to start with aluminium, and then copper and zinc.

Traditionally metals are 'sintered' from powders. By contrast Vader Systems process will produce fully fused objects. If this works it will be super-cool. The company is aiming for the under $10K market. Listen to one of the founders talk about the potential advantages:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetohydrodynamics

3D Printer market from $288m to $5.7b by 2017 - Gartner

Consumer and enterprise 3D printer shipments are growing at 95.4% and revenue at 81.9% from 2012 through 2017 according to IT industry analysts Gartner. 

In a new report Gartner predicts that "The 3D printer market will grow from $288 million to more than $5.7 billion by 2017 as consumer 3D printing hype accelerates 3D printer purchases by enterprises worldwide". 

Forecast: 3D Printers, Worldwide, 2013

A peek inside TCT Show + personalize 2013

Wonderful little film, courtesy of RepRap BCN3D with our thanks:



More coverage from TCT Live

GE hangout in the Future of 3D Printing

GE Global Research recently hosted a Google Hangout on the Future of Additive Manufacturing. Summary:

• GE is the largest user of metallic AM in the world - largest fleet of 3D Printers for prototyping, tooling, end user parts, 600 engineers signed up in AM programs
• Opens up a whole new world for designers, convergence of design, materials and manufacturing collaborations
• Kick starting the "3rd Industrial Revolution" where the "Process is the Product"
• Driven by millions of people who are part of the 'Maker' movement as well
• Beginning of a democratization of 3D Printing "Craftmanship" via access to platforms, content creation, participation and connection "Virtual to Actual"
• GE creating ecosystems around AM to explore potentialities, especially "Software meets hardware"
• Terry Wohlers "So excited by unprecedented change"  29% growth in 2012 but a number of challenges remain "People are confusing the results from $1500 systems with the $1m systems" 
• GE acquired Morris Technologies using AM, GE learning limitations and potentialities
• Media coverage over last 2 years - leading to household term - widespread interest
• Opportunity to use AM for real production parts, e.g. GE fuel nozzles, lightweight topologically optimized parts
• Future: multi-functional, multi-material components: integration of additive and subtractive in one process
• Manufacturing Innovations at NAMII seeing shift to production parts and lower cost processes, need for AM Quality / Process Control
• Sectors: aerospace, automotive, bio-medical ... broadening to motorsports, fashion, clothing, food, architecture, art ... mass customization
• Need for Workforce Training ("People to understand") for AM ... there is a move to make this a part of direct mainstream manufacturing ("People are getting excited")
• Nylon parts in structural applications for over a decade
• Patient specific medical devices and surgical instruments
• Metals are an exciting area - commercially and industrially viable in ferrous and non-ferrous and in some cases ceramic - purity and density
• Conductivity and embedded smarts
• 3D Systems seeing opportunity for mash ups between Additive and Subtractive - multi-functional components
• What are the limitations? Larger parts, residual stresses, big leap to end user manufacturing, part longevity compared to 'prototype' short life parts ... "Not direct replacement of existing parts ... economics does not work unless parts are re-designed and simplified in the design software for AM production" 
• GE "Subtractive may increase as a result of AM" 
• Research grants for multi-functional processes .... e.g. sensors embedded in functional structures, , multiple disciplines working together "3D printing a great tool to excite and energize engineering students ... to think in 3D dimensions"
• Better software tools need for multi-functional, multi-material, AM design
• GE very interested in 3D Printing of ceramics ... ceramics today requires heavy, complex and expensive infrastructure and a lot of process knowledge ... GE AM printing piezoelectric ceramic materials for medical imaging e.g. ultrasound probes ... new products now in trials 
• 3D Systems excited by ability to process many types of ceramics, finer powders/details for variety of applications including consumer
• Avi: "Empowering start ups is a game changer" ... scale-able desktop manufacturing for entrepreneurs "The train has left the station" 
• GE looking for talent in the community, ecosystems ...
• GE eye is towards 3D printed rotational / moving parts ... repair and service parts close to the end user or consumer ... but GE will never give up on quality, assurance, part performance, safety, reliability, toughness, strength, peace of mind every time for every part ... "It's a new technology, a new physics" 
• Wohlers: New standards ASTM.org F42 on AM, ISO/TC 261 will accelerate adoption 
• DIY'ers, makers, engineering students 'geeks' and 'hobbyists' are adopting low end AM
• May not see families turning out parts with home printers, but will use 3D Printing services (gifts) and some educational products (kids niche similar to Lego Mindstorms)
• Moving towards multi-functional components, e.g. a 3D printed DC brushless motor - some process interrupt e.g. magnet insertion - but "We have an entire electro-mechanical system, fully 3D printed, break it off the support structure and it works, spin the rotor, shaft, motor works"  (http://keck.utep.edu/ or via YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pghZG1Neyc0)
• GE final comments "AM will be just another tool just like introducing lasers into machining. It will not replace everything. We will always need machining. Does allow for new designs. There will be a shift but not as dramatic as some think."
• Wohlers: "Cannot predict the future."

3D Systems still Acquiring

The 3D Printing industry is still consolidating. 3D Systems [NYSE:DDD], noted for their acquisitive nature, are still acquiring today.

In August '13 the company acquired CRDM a UK provider of rapid prototyping services. Also in August DDD snapped up TeamPlatform a cloud based platform for managing 3D projects and services. And in July Phenix Systems were acquired. Phenix specialized in very fine metal powder direct laser sintering. And in May RPDG was acquired a leading US provider of Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing services.

A long history of acquisitions precede these latest announcements.

The rate of 3D Systems's acquisitions (there were sixteen in 2011 alone) has raised eyebrows. 3D Systems is consolidating the industry. The company are snapping up interesting software (Geomagic, Bespoke Innovations), critical processes (ZCorp, Phenix), leading services (RapidForm, RPDG), consumer platforms (MyRobotNation, FreshFiber) and more.

Why is this happening?

Why are these innovative companies not able to stand on their own two feet?

Isn't 3D Printing the next industrial revolution? Or as 3D Systems CEO claims "As big as the steam engine! As big as the computer! As big as the Internet!".

And it's not just 3D Systems who is acquiring. Their main competitor Stratasys [NYSE:SSYS] acquired Makerbot Industries in June 2013. Makerbot are the flamboyant manufacturer of arguably the most popular consumer 3D Printer on the market today: the Replicator and the Replicator 2. These were preceded by the Thing-O-Matic introduced in September 2010 at the NYC Maker Faire. Even a healthy dose of venture funding could not save them. In August 2011 the company announced that they had received $10M venture funding from the Foundry Group. The acquisition by Stratasys was just two years later.

Why did Stratasys, who had previously only targeted industrial sectors, need to acquire Makerbot? Purely and simply it had nothing to do with innovation or new product development. Stratasys just needed something with which to compete against 3D Systems' own consumer products, the Cube and the CubeX.

Compare the history of Makerbot with the perseverance and innovation over five decades of a company such as Apple Computer Inc. It is ironic that some industry observers were comparing the young Makerbot Industries to the early Apple Computer. The comparison was meaningless. Makerbot grew out of the RepRap movement and Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) of common or garden thermoplastics. It was already a commodity technology. 100s of similar RepRap inspired devices were being created by one man band innovators. Stratasys could have created its own products easily. So why did Stratasys pick MakerBot? It was because of the brand awareness created by charismatic CEO Bre Pettis. He virtually defined the company with his deep 'maker community' roots. This is what had attracted VC funding for Makerbot prior to the acquisition by Stratasys. The technology was already in the wild. The story illustrates how the industry has become obsessed by acquisition as a source of growth, as opposed to product innovation.

Take another example. Objet Geometries was an innovative Israeli company who dominated in multi-material and mixed-material photo-polymer 3D printing. They defined the standard for realistic product prototypes. Yet even they failed to make it on their own. The company merged with Stratasys at the end of 2012. They name now refers to the product line only.

These examples are not of big sharks acquiring little fishes. They are not even examples of competing products. When 3D Systems acquired ZCorp it did not do so in order to take out an unwelcome competitor. ZCorp was a unique process which added to the existing 3D Systems portfolio. Similarly, when Objet merged with Stratasys there were no competing in-house products which had to be disgarded. Objet, like ZCorp, was as different from Stratasys' existing processes as ZCorp was from 3D Systems legacy stereolithography products.

Why are good companies with good products finding it hard to go it alone? 3D Systems and Stratasys now oversee sizable portfolios. They can certainly help individual products to find new customers using age-old 'cross selling' techniques (sharing customers lists and the like) but boosting sales and marketing is not the only reason. The numerous different 3D Printing processes can be considered a set of niches within niches. They are pieces of a larger puzzle.

When an industry consolidates it is a sign of commoditization. Everyone who knows AM knows it is not a new technology but has been maturing for decades as a set of discrete and very different technologies. The media may view "3D Printing" as the Next Big Thing, but industry insiders know otherwise.

What's new are the services innovations. Customers are demanding end-to-end processes and total solution providers in both consumer and industrial settings.

The Additive Manufacturing industry is at an inflection point. 3D Systems and Stratasys are still acquiring product companies in the hope of controlling patents, gaining unique processes and buying into market share. But the larger trend playing out is the race for the customer's attention via compelling services. This is why 3D Systems is buying into services via RapidForm, RPDG and CRDM and others.

The future of 3D printing is 3D services. Let the 3D Service Innovators win!

To be clear: we don't mean servicing products, i.e. maintenance, upgrade, materials.

Look to companies such as Shapeways and iMaterialize as great examples of 3D Services. Such companies don't sell (nor service) 3D printers. Instead they offer simple amenity: a transformative customer experience with comfort and convenience). When a creative 3D designer signs up to the Shapeways or iMaterialize service they are instantly transformed and become their own production line, factory floor, distribution channel, shop and retail outlet.

If you want a picture of the future of 3D printing, think 3D experiences, services and transformations, not 3D printers.

Also see "3D Printers or 3D Services?". 

3D Services or 3D Printers?

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers" is a remark attributed to Thomas J. Watson, chairman of IBM, in 1943. As we now know, computers turned out to be rather more ubiquitous. A similar quote was made in 1946 by Sir Charles Darwin (grandson of the famous naturalist), then head of Britain's National Physical Laboratory, where research into computers was taking place. He wrote: "it is very possible that ... one machine would suffice to solve all the problems that are demanded of it from the whole country."

These pioneers were entranced by the ability of their primitive yet gargantuan machines to perform any conceivable calculation. At that time, Watson and Darwin could not have considered the relationship between future computing products, their applications and value-added services.

Jump forward to today. We each have a 'super-computer' in our phone. Yet IBM's server business is ailing, Google is made of commodity hardware and 70% of IBM's revenue is now in technology and business services.

How many 3D Printers does the world need? Who will own them? What will they be used for?

Shapeways has 50 printers. As of June 20, 2012, the company has printed and sold more than one million user-created objects.

With this in mind, watch in awe as Alexis Ohanian takes a tour of Shapeways and speaks to 3D designers, engineers and operations experts as they explain the story behind one of today's biggest 3D Services companies.

Search this blog for more articles about Shapeways

Is '3D Printing' a set of niches within niches? Roll on 3D Services

Analyzing the 3D Printing marketplace is not so easy. The term '3D Printing' is largely a media invention. As we have stressed before, '3D Printing' refers to a dizzying array of very different Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies (layer by layer, drop by drop, voxel by voxel) sharing little in common. It is not unreasonable to suggest that many of these techniques are still very much niche technologies. That may change rapidly in the future. Today, however, even companies with viable 3D printing products appear not to be able to make it on their own.

Phenix Systems is the latest casualty. The company, like so many before it, has been acquired by 3D Systems, the aggregator of the nascent additive manufacturing industry. Founded in 1986 the giant of the AM industry still only has 1000 employees today.

Why this new acquisition in a long list?

Phenix Systems manufacture a range of Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) 3D Printers. DMLS is one of over thirty very different 3D Printing approaches. Yet even within the narrow field of DMLS there are many specialist processes. Phenix can 3D print chemically-pure fully-dense metal and ceramic parts from very fine powders with a granularity of 6 to 9 microns. Materials include stainless steel, tool steel, super alloys, non-ferrous alloys, precious metals and alumina for a variety of aerospace, automotive and patient specific medical device applications. That sounds like a huge deal. Perhaps not. Despite owning patents in this area, Phenix decided they could not make it on their own and have thrown in their towel with 3D Systems [NYSE: DDD].

Why this continuing AM industry consolidation?

Phenix Systems DMLS 3D Printers

Is it that the market for what Phenix do is just too specialized? Is it that their products only make sense if developed and marketed under a broader banner? Is it that 3D Systems sought controlling patents in this area and made an offer that Phenix could not refuse? Or is it a sign of 3D printer product commoditization?

The acquisition of Phenix Systems by 3D Systems continues a past pattern, buying up specialist companies to flesh out a solution portfolio. It highlights the nature of this marketplace: a set of niches within niches.

In such a market, customers want services, not products.

AM users do not want to buy a slew of different 3D printers to cover all possible needs, materials and processes. Nor do they want to buy into an expensive 3D printer (and everything else required to operate it) only for it to become obsolescent when a new model comes to market offering higher resolution or material stability! Companies looking to re-engineer their manufacturing to take advantage of AM don't want products, they will seek out a trusted relationship with an end-to-end solution provider, a partner who offers rich AM process options and a consistent tool chain, with integrated software.

What the media call "3D Printing" should really be called "3D Services".

What the Phenix story and others like it show is that 3D printer makers simply cannot make it on their own. Why is this?

There is no standard 3DP platform upon which to innovate new products via innovative applications. With no standard platform, 3D printer makers cannot prosper as other companies invest and create applications for them to run on their platform. This is why comparisons between "3D Printing" and the early days of the computer industry are null and void. There will be no Apple, Microsoft or Amazon of 3D Printing. Additive Manufacturing's growth is not product centric. It is a complex ecosystem of niche products, set within a broad services innovation framework.

For all of these reasons the growth curve of the 3D printing industry will not look like the exponential growth curves and hyper valuations of the digital computing industry. Rather, it will look more like the Information Technology (IT) services industry: slow and steady steers the ship.

Further: As 3D printers become more and more a commodity item, it won't be possible for 3D Systems to buy up every company on the block. Just as in the computer services industry there will be a range of services and solutions providers for every pocket and every sector of the market. They will compete not on ownership of 3D Printers and 3D Printing patents, but on what every mature industry competes on: customer service and alignment with customer needs.

Wikipedia on 3D Systems