Wohlers Report 2008
State of the Industry
Annual Worldwide Progress Report    
ISBN 0-9754429-4-5

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Acknowledgments

About the author

Focus of this report

Introduction to additive fabrication

PART 1: BACKGROUND

History of additive fabrication

Introduction of non-SL systems

Introduction of 3D printers

New generation machines

The past 12 months

Early inventions

Industries and regions benefiting from the technology

How companies are applying additive processes
Installations by country

Applications

Communication
Engineering changes
Powerful ideas and proposals
Concept models
Verifying CAD databases
Styling and ergonomics
Fit and functional testing
Prototyping
Metal castings
Requests for quotes

Tooling
Manufacturing of parts
Unlimited potential

PART 2: INDUSTRY GROWTH

Perspective

Revenue growth and forecasts

Revenues from products and services

Long-range forecast
Annual revenue growth percentages
Material sales
Revenues from service providers
Secondary market
Revenues from other services

Unit sales growth and forecasts

Long-range forecast

Unit sales growth percentages

Market shares
Systems sold by region
Cumulative systems sold by region
Cumulative market shares by manufacturer
Unit sales by manufacturer and year
3D printer sales

Service providers

Gauging growth trends

Most popular processes

Changing conditions

The future

Companies mature
Outlook

PART 3: SYSTEM MANUFACTURERS

Accufusion

Arcam

Concept Laser

Cubic Technologies

Desktop Factory
DWS

Envisiontec

EOS

System design

Expanding family of materials

Ex One

MTT

Objet Geometries

Optomec

Phenix Systems

POM
Sintermask Technologies

Solidica

Solido

Solidscape

Stratasys

Dimension business

New FDM systems

RedEye RPM

Other business

3D Systems

V-Flash update

Legal matters

Other developments

Trumpf

Voxeljet

Z Corp.

ZPrinter 450

Newest materials

Other developments

Investor update

Revenues and earnings
Outlook

PART 4: ASIA AND EUROPE

Asia

Perspective on China
Another perspective on China
Major technology players

Chinese machines

Korean machines

India

Japan

Situation in Japan

Stereolithography no longer dominates

Other additive processes

Microstereolithography
3D printers
Tooling
Service providers
The future

Europe

United Kingdom
Italy

Germany

France
Spain

Portugal

Sweden
Finland
Denmark
The Netherlands
Belgium

Other regions

South Africa

Canada
Groups and associations

PART 5: METAL PARTS AND TOOLING

Direct metal fabrication

Laser-based, powder-bed systems 
Powder deposition systems 
Other approaches
Need for materials testing

Cast metal parts

Investment casting 
Sand, V-Process, and plaster mold casting 
LS, ProMetal, and ZCast
Die casting

Tooling solutions
High-performance tooling

Indirect tooling approaches

RSP Tooling 
Reconfigurable Tooling Systems 
Other options

Direct approaches

Laser Consolidation 
SLS tooling 
DMLS 
Others

Other options

CNC-machined tooling
Hybrid tooling

PART 6: RAPID MANUFACTURING

A coming revolution

When it makes sense

No tooling means unparalleled design freedom
Production volume

Quality, repeatability, and manufacturing standards

Cost analysis and economics

Production implications
Strategic implications

The impact on sustainability

Industrial design

Impact of RM

The need for customer interaction

Applications and industries

Aerospace

Military and marine

Motorsports

Automotive

Machinery

Medical and dental

Consumer products

Furniture

Art and jewelry

Gifts, awards, and trophies

Museum displays

Future possibilities

Challenges and required research

Processes
Materials
Organization, management, and supply chain 
   issues

PART 7: OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

Growth of CAD solid modeling

Major trends

Revenue and seat count estimates

Operating systems

What's next?

Materials

LS powders

SL resins
PolyJet resins

Other materials

Coatings and surface treatments

Rapid manufacturing 
Predicting the performance of injection-molded 
   parts

Medical applications

Medical imaging as input to medical models
Medical image-processing software
Materials suited to medical modeling
Additive methods suited to medical modeling

Implantable AF parts
RP4Baghdad humanitarian project
Additive fabrication makes a difference a world 
   away

3D scanning and reverse engineering

3D scanning hardware
Processing software
Applications

Technology
Limitations and other issues
Polygon meshes and surfaces
Caveats and conclusions

PART 8: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Patents

Technology development

Metallic materials

Biomanufacturing

Nanomanufacturing

NanoEngineer-1
Examples

Approaches to nanomanufacturing

Nokia's Morph

U.S. government-sponsored R&D

National Science Foundation
Meso, micro, and nanoscale technology
Process improvements, material developments, 
   and new  applications
Medicine
Education
National Institutes of Health
Department of Defense
Other federal agencies

College and university education and research

Educational activities in additive fabrication
Research and teaching
Future trends and contributions

PART 9: WHERE IT'S ALL HEADED

The impact on manufacturing

Explosive growth in medical applications

Orthopedic implants 
Dental applications
Biomanufacturing

New kinds of products

Lightweight structures

Electronics 

AF will reach the consumer

Game figures and collectables

Replacement parts and home accessories 

Summary 

Want to learn more?

Global Alliance of Rapid Prototyping Associations
Rapid Technologies and Additive Manufacturing 
   Community

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Glossary of terms

Appendix B: System and material manufacturers

Canada
China
France
Germany
Israel

Italy
Japan
Korea

Sweden
United States

Appendix C: U.S. system specifications

Appendix D: Systems manufactured outside the U.S.

Appendix E: Material properties

Appendix F: Metal fabrication comparison matrix

Appendix G: 3D scanning systems

Appendix H: 3D scan processing software