1.1 Definition and Introduction

A 3D printer is a machine that allows to design real objects in 3 dimensions from a file created with 3D design software. The objects created can be models, parts, scale models or prototypes. 3D printers can be used for industrial or personnal purposes depending on their use.

The production of parts via 3D printers requires:

The production of materials for 3D printing (plastics, resins, metal dust),
The use of machines and 3D printers
Softwares (creation softwares)
Sometimes services and consulting activities in 3D printing

The 3D printing (or additive manufacturing) market includes the following activities:

sales of 3D printing machines and solutions
sales of printed products via specialized machines to customers wishing to create product prototypes
printing services

The global market for 3D printers is growing rapidly in terms of printers sold. Companies are heavily investing in the use of 3D printers. It is however still dominated by Germany, the United States and China.

Industrial printers, while representing a small share of total sales, account for the majority of revenue generated. The rest of the sales are desktop 3D printers. The sector is relatively concentrated and organized around a few printer manufacturers for the industrial and desktop segments.

Regarding Portugal, 3D printing is slowly evolving and is not yet used in large production lines. Currently, this type of printing is mainly used to prototype products. The market prospects are however very promising: the speed at which investments in this market are increasing is three times faster than that of the traditional industry. [Jornal Económico]

1.2 A recent and booming global market

The global *D printing market was valued at USD **.** billion in ****, with a compound annual growth rate (***) of **.* percent predicted from **** to ****. *D printers were supplied in *.* million units globally in ****, with shipments predicted to reach **.* million units by ****. The market is predicted to increase due to intensive research and development ...

1.3 The Portugese market

The INE website, which categorizes official Portuguese data, gathers the whole Portugese printing market under one domain, Printing and services related to printing (***), which is then divided into different parts. In ****, the whole market was worth *** million €.

Répartition des marchés portugais de l'impression Portugal, ****, en pourcentage Source: ****

On ...

1.4 COVID-19 crisis highlights the value of 3D printing

The COVID-** crisis, although it affected the printing industry in Portugal severely, demonstrated the industrial and medical benefits of *D printing. Indeed, swabs, protective masks, visors, elbow grips, breathing valves, as well as many other objects were *D printed during the health crisis.

"The additive manufacturing market has grown significantly, ...

2.1 The 3D printer: a revolutionary tool in many industries

Global spending on *D printing has grown significantly, driven by the increasing integration of *D printers into various industrial processes. The *D printing market has several outlets: industry, high-tech, consumer goods, etc. As shown below, industry is the main market and accounts for nearly **% of the demand for *D printing. The ...

2.2 The 3D printer, an increasingly popular product.

According to a **** market report by market leader Sculpteo, the penetration rate of *D printers is constantly changing. In fact, as we can see from the graph below, this penetration rate has increased from *% in **** to nearly **% in ****. Beyond the growing popularity of *D printers, the continuous growth of the penetration ...

The 3D printer demand coming from Portuguese companies

Even though the demand for *D printers has been growing in recent years, it remains relatively low on the part of Portuguese companies. For example, in **** and ****, only *% of Portuguese companies had a *D printer in their office.

Companies using devices or interconnected systems monitored/controlled by *D printing, as % of ...

2.4 Healthcare, a major growth driver for the 3D printing market

The medical sector is a real growth driver for *D printing. Indeed, the manufacture of implants and nanotechnology is particularly well suited to *D printing. The purpose of an implant is to replace an organ over a long period of time or to replace one or more of its functions. It ...

3.1 3D printing global market players

The *D printing market is in full swing. In fact, we can see that several types of players coexist in this market:

Large groups: Large, diversified, multi-activity groups such as General Electric, HP or Siemens. Pure players: *D printing specialists (***) such as *D Systems, Stratasys and Xerox.

The cohabitation of these ...

3.2 Global 3D printer production is concentrated in a few countries

The Wohlers **** report states that there were a total of **,*** industrial installations of *D printers between ****-****. As we can see from the chart below, **.*% of this production was from the United States, compared to **.*% from China, *.*% from Japan *.*% and *.*% from Germany

Production mondiale d'imprimantes *D Monde, ****, en % Source: ****

3.3 An increase in the number of 3D printing companies in Portugal

While concentrated internationally, the *D printer market is deconcentrating at the Portuguese national level, with a slightly growing turnover for a number of companies that has been growing steadily since **** (***). Thus, while the sector of "Other printing" was composed of **** companies in ****, it consisted of **** in ****.

Evolution du nombre d'entreprises portugaises ...

4.1 The three dominant technologies in the 3D printing market

*D printing is based on several underlying technologies. According to a **** market report by market leader Sculpteo, there are * main technologies used in the *D printing industry:

Fused deposition modeling (***): this is a type of additive manufacturing technology that enables the construction of three-dimensional objects, prototypes, and products through a computer-aided ...

4.2 Different 3D printer prices depending on the range and use

According to Internet price comparisons, the price of a *D printer depends on the range and its use (***). The accessibility of *D printers has been gradually democratized since **** in Portugal with prices that could reach *** *** € for an average of first prices at * *** €.

There are now * main price ranges for *D printers ...

4.3 The future of 3D printing

The future of *D printers is strongly linked with the trends in materials used. According to a study on *D printing by Forbes, there are * main types of materials used in *D printing:

Plastic Metal Resin Stoneware Wax Ceramic

If the price can have an incidence the choice of materials, it ...

5.1 Indirect regulation supplemented by specific standardization

Due to the recent emergence of additive manufacturing technologies, there is a relative lack of national or international regulation. However, the multiplication of standards allows for a precise framework of *D printing processes.

A regulation resulting from the use of chemical products

In a professional context, the site where a *D ...