Wohlers Report 2002
Rapid Prototyping & Tooling State of the Industry
Annual Worldwide Progress Report  

 

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   
   Metal castings   
   Early input from suppliers, toolmakers
   Quote requests
   Rapid tooling  
   Rapid manufacturing
   Unlimited potential

PART 2: INDUSTRY GROWTH
Number of models being produced
Revenue growth   
   Revenues from products and services
   3D Systems dominates
   Material sales
   Revenues from service providers
   Secondary market 
   Revenues from other services 
Unit sales 
   3D Systems leads
   Systems sold by region     
   Cumulative systems sold by region  
   Units sold by U.S. manufacturers
   Units sold by Japanese manufacturers
   Cumulative unit sales by manufacturer    
   Unit sales by manufacturer and year     
   3D printer 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  
   Investment casting    
   Working with service providers
   Challenging times   
   What is driving prices downward?   
   What lies ahead? 

PART 3: TOOLING  
Advances   
   Growing list of methods
   Thermal management   
   Risk factors     
Indirect approaches    
   Silicone rubber tooling
   Epoxy-based composite tooling     
   Spray metal tooling    
   RSP Tooling
   Ford's Sprayform 
   Cast kirksite tooling
   RPM (rubber plaster mold) casting  
   3D Keltool 
   PolySteel  
   EcoTool    
   Swiftool   
   PHAST
   V-Process
   Others
Direct approaches
   Direct AIM tooling     
   SLS tooling  
   DMLS
   POM
   Others
Other considerations   
   Machined tooling 
   Laminate tooling 
   Hybrid tooling   
   Space Puzzle Molding   
   Tool design software   
   Size of tooling market
Tooling comparison matrix 

PART 4: SYSTEM MANUFACTURERS 
3D Systems 
   Materials
   SLS business
   OptoForm
   MJM
   Other developments
Arcam
Beijing Yinhua 
Cubic Technologies    
EOS 
   EOS P 380
   20-micron metal powders
Envision Technologies
F&S GmbH
Generis   
Kinergy    
Objet
   QuadraTempo
   Support material
   Sales underway
Optomec
ProMetal
   R2, R4, and R10 products
   Recent developments    
Sanders Design International
Schroff Development
Solidica 
Solidscape   
Stratasys  
   Dimension
   Other developments
Z Corp.    
   Z810
   ZCast
   Other activities
Others
   Helisys
   Cubital
   Röders
   BMT
   Aaroflex
Real cost of RP
RP stocks  
   Revenues and earnings
   Industry consolidation
   Trends and areas of interest
   Outlook

PART 5: ASIA & EUROPE  
Asia 
   Hong Kong
   China
   Singapore
Japan
   Unit sales
   3D copy shop
   Japanese strategy
   CMET, Sony/D-MEC, others
   Acceptance of non-SL technologies
   Sheet lamination systems
   Developments, trends
   Lagging software development   
   Accelerated growth expected
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
   Denken Engineering
   Solidimension  
   BMT
   Speed Part
Metal and ceramic parts
   AeroMet
   CAM-LEM
   SRI International
   Others
Small parts
   microTEC
   MEMGen
   Mesoscale Integrated Conformal Electronics (MICE)
   Others
Large objects
   Generis
   Others
MIT's 3DP technology
   3DP process   
   Major areas of focus
   ProMetal
   Z Corp.
   Soligen
   Specific Surface
   Therics
   Others
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: OTHER DEVELOPMENTS   
Growth of solid modeling
   Getting good estimates
   Seat and revenue estimates
   Unsaturated market
RP materials     
   Stereolithography resins
   Resin business in flux     
   Materials for other RP processes   
   3D printers
Medical modeling 
   Medical imaging to RP
   Materials for medical RP
   Research
   RP's impact 
Reverse engineering    
   The technology
   3D digitizing and scanning
   Data modeling and surface creation
   First article inspection
   Note to the wise     

PART 8: WHERE IT'S ALL HEADED
Tough times, bright future
   Economy
   Something is missing
   Necessity is the mother of invention
   Silver lining
Formula for success
   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 digitizing systems
Appendix J: Reverse engineering software  

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