3D printers had a profitable year in 2018, led by the industrial printer market, but the personal printer market lagged behind, according to a recent report.
Over 70 percent of global printer revenues come from the market’s industrial segment. This segment is leading the push to integrate additive manufacturing into a mainstream manufacturing market valued at $12 trillion globally. Revenues were up 44 percent from 2017 and shipments grew by 27 percent over the same period thanks to robust sales in the U.S. and Europe, as well as domestic sales in China.
“The real story in this class is about new, lower-priced metal printers from brands such as Markforged, which saw shipments soar in 2018,” said Chris Connery, VP for Global Analysis at CONTEXT, the IT supply chain firm that produced the report. These printers are typically priced at around $100,000 to $125,000 in a market where the average price of a metal printer was $479,000 in 2017—with some printers selling for more than $2 million.
The design market experienced more modest improvements, with growth in the single digits. 3D Systems was the standout in this sector, with printer shipments increasing by 13 percent. The company released its long-anticipated Figure 4 Standalone printer in August 2018, which helped boost growth in the sector.
Not all the news is positive, though. The personal 3D printer market—printers priced at under $2,500—actually dropped compared to 2017. While the industrial printer segment makes the most revenue, the majority of overall printer sales are in the personal printer segment of the global market. In 2017, around 400,000 printers were shipped, while the 2018 forecast is for just 370,000—a number many analysts never expected.
The personal printer market has seen a reduction in successful crowdsourced projects; rising tariffs on Chinese goods shipping into the U.S. (the world’s largest market for personal 3D printers); declines in shipments from market leaders such as XYZprinting, Monoprice and Wahnao; and a shift to DIY and kit solutions that are primarily of interest to hobbyists. The one standout in this segment was Prusa Research, which had large increases in shipments.
While the personal market may be sputtering a bit, the global market for 3D printers continues to grow, promising to further transform industry and commerce.
Read more about how 3D printing will continue to evolve at 3D Printing Predictions for 2019.