Wohlers
Report 2001
Rapid Prototyping & Tooling State of
the Industry
Annual Worldwide Progress Report
Information, order form, brochure, and independent review are available. To display a list of those who contributed to the report, click here.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
About the author
Focus of this report
Introduction to rapid prototyping and tooling
PART
1: BACKGROUND
History of RP systems
Industries being served
How RP models are
being used
Installations by country
Applications
Communication
Engineering changes
Good ideas and powerful proposals
Concept models
Verifying CAD databases
Styling, ergonomic studies
Functional testing
Prototypes and prototype tooling
Metal castings
Early input from suppliers, toolmakers
Quote requests
Rapid
manufacturing
Unlimited
potential
PART
2: INDUSTRY GROWTH
Moderate increase
Challenges ahead
Number of
models being produced
Revenue growth
Revenues from products and services
Secondary market
Revenues from service providers
Revenues
from other services
Unit sales
3D Systems retains the lead
Systems sold by region
Cumulative systems sold by region
Units sold by U.S. manufacturers
Units sold by Japanese manufacturers
Recent unit sales by manufacturer
Cumulative unit sales by manufacturer
Unit sales by manufacturer and year
3D printer unit sales by manufacturer and year
Growth trends and sales forecasts
Unit sales growth percentages
Worldwide revenue estimates
Annual revenue growth percentages
Comparing growth of RP and machining markets
Service providers
Growth and location
Mix of machines
Market segment continues to shrink
Number of models produced annually
Patterns for investment casting
Working with service providers
Changing times
What is driving prices downward?
Future challenges
What lies ahead?
PART
3: TOOLING
Advances
Growing list of
methods
Thermal management
Risk factors
Indirect approaches
Silicone rubber tooling
Aluminum-filled epoxy
tooling
Spray metal tooling
RSP Tooling
Ford's Sprayform
Cast kirksite tooling
3D Keltool
PolySteel
EcoTool
Express Tool
CEMCOM
Swiftool
PHAST
Direct approaches
Direct AIM tooling
Rapid tooling from DTM
DMLS
Solidica
ProMetal
LENS
POM
Other considerations
Machined tooling
Laminate tooling
Hybrid tooling
Space Puzzle Molding
Prototype tooling selection guide
Tool design software
Size of tooling market
PART
4: SYSTEM MANUFACTURERS
3D Systems
Stereolithography
DTM acquisition
Other agreements
3D Keltool
Aaroflex
Beijing Yinhua
BMT
Cubital
DTM
New materials
Rapid manufacturing
Acquisition
EOS
EOS P 700
DirectSteel 20-V1
Other developments
F&S GmbH
Helisys
Kinergy
Objet
Product features
Unanswered questions
Availability
Optomec
ProMetal
Röders
Sanders Design International
Schroff Development
Solidscape
Stratasys
FDM Titan
Prodigy
FDM Maxum
Z Corp.
Z406
Z400
Agreements with HP and Xerox
Other developments
RP stocks
Record earnings
Factors influencing growth
PART
5: ASIA & EUROPE
Asia
Hong Kong
Mainland China
Singapore
Korea
Taiwan
Japan
Unit sales growth
3D copy shop
Japanese strategy
Largest RP machine manufacturer acquired
Changing strategies
Developments and trends
Sheet lamination machines
Other machines and technology
Why RP growth has been slow
Europe
RAPTIA
United Kingdom
Germany
Italy
France
Sweden
Finland
Denmark
The Netherlands
Belgium
Other regions
Brazil
India
South Africa
Australia
Canada
RP groups and associations
PART
6: RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Developments, patents
3D printers and concept modelers
Solidimension
BMT
Speed Part
Others
Fabrication of metal and ceramic parts
POM
AeroMet
Arcam
Solidica
CAM-LEM
SRI International
Others
Small parts
microTEC
MICE
Others
Large objects
Generis
University of Utah
MIT's 3DP technology
Major areas of focus
ProMetal
Z Corp.
Soligen
Specific Surface
Therics
Pfaltzgraff
MMCC
TDK
U.S. government-sponsored R&D
NSF funding
DoD funding
DoC funding
RP academic programs
RP educational activities
Basic research activities
Applied research activities
Future trends and contributions from academia
PART
7: CAD & COMPUTING
CAD/CAM/CAE
Advances in computing
Operating systems
User interface
Collaboration
Feature-based translation
Other interoperability issues
2D legacy data
Growth of solid modeling
Software for RP and related applications
SolidView
Magics, Mimics, and Magics Communicator
View Expert and 3Data Expert
3D View
Rapid
Prototyping Module
Geomagic Studio
Paraform
Velocity2
Rhino
StlView
The Internet phenomenon
Bandwidth continues to explode
B2B e-commerce
Peer-to-peer computing architectures
Application service providers
Customer relationship management
Supply chain management
Content management
PART
8: OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
RP materials
Stereolithography
resins
Materials for other RP processes
3D printers
Medical modeling
Research areas in medical RP
RP is impacting the lives of patients
RP helps conjoined twins in Australia
Reverse engineering
The technology
3D data collection
Data modeling (a.k.a. creating surfaces)
First article inspection
Note to the wise
PART
9: WHERE IT'S ALL HEADED
Bright future
Technology adoption life cycle
The chasm, bowling alley, and tornado
System manufacturers
Large company explodes onto the market
U.S. economy
Formula for success
Future developments
Divergent paths
3D printing
Rapid manufacturing
What to expect
Last
great barrier
New rules
Where to learn more
Internet mail list
GARPA
RPA/SME
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Glossary of terms
Appendix B: RP system manufacturers
United States
Israel
Europe
Japan
China
Singapore
Appendix C: Rapid tooling technology developers
United States
Europe
Appendix D: RP software companies
Appendix E: Material suppliers
Appendix F: U.S. RP system specifications
Appendix G: RP systems manufactured outside the U.S.
Appendix H: Material properties
Appendix I: 3D data collection systems
Appendix J: Reverse engineering software
