VDMA autumn survey sees confidence in Additive Manufacturing sector
November 1, 2024
The VDMA’s Additive Manufacturing Working Group has reported confidence in the Additive Manufacturing sector despite what was described as a difficult market environment. The VDMA revealed that only 35% of companies reported declining sales in the group’s autumn survey.
“Our member companies are demonstrating remarkable stability in what is currently an extremely difficult market environment,” explained Dr Markus Heering, Managing Director of the VDMA’s Additive Manufacturing Working Group.
The composition of the member companies is very heterogeneous. Providers of AM machines and their suppliers are represented, as are post-processing specialists. AM service providers and manufacturers of AM components for in-house use are also represented. In addition, there are specialised consultancies, research institutes as well as software and material suppliers. Despite this, there is a broad agreement on where the AM industry needs to improve.
Industry expects growth
Optimism reportedly remains at a high level with 65% of respondents expecting growth in the domestic market for the next twenty-four months. In terms of exports, 58% of member companies still expect an increase (compared to 68% in the spring survey.)
The EU-27 is reportedly the most important export region for almost three quarters of member companies, followed by the USA (69%) and European non-EU countries (33%).
Heering commented, “We are observing an increasing importance of the USA as an export market. China and other Asian countries are also among the top sales markets, with 10% and 15% of survey participants respectively.”
Dr Heering noted that Chinese competition is now evident, with 43% of respondents considering themselves in competition with Chinese AM providers and 36% with US providers.
Investment restraint intensifies
Despite the expected growth, companies are currently holding back on investments due to the difficult overall economic situation; only 27% intend to increase their investments in the coming year. New applications (68%) and new markets (52%) will have the most positive effect on the AM business. One in five companies also hopes that increased R&D and marketing activities will provide positive impetus in the current year.
“This is where we can start and focus. Our working group brings together a wide variety of players that offer products and services along additive process and value chains,” Heering added.
Joint exchange promotes the further development of AM technologies
“We need to work on the cost level in order to increase AM competitiveness. We also need to find new applications and develop new technologies that focus primarily on series production. Automation will be crucial here. In order to increase market acceptance, we must also continue to work on the stability and reproducibility of AM processes,” Heering added.
The regular exchange between member companies in the VDMA working group is intended to be particularly useful for this, enabling an exchange of ideas on challenges, solutions and best practices across all process, material and discipline boundaries and offers valuable suggestions and points of contact.
The working group includes manufacturers and users from the metal, plastic and ceramics sectors. These companies develop and use both direct and indirect AM processes to manufacture series products, prototypes, assembly aids and more.
Dr Heering concluded, “The exchange along the additive process chains, in which all participants share their perspectives, experiences and challenges, leads to a deeper understanding of the tasks at hand and raises awareness of the need for development along the entire chain.”
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