3D Printing Blog

In part one of this series, I discussed the declining productivity growth rate in US manufacturing through the lens of Michael Porter’s 1990 text The Competitive Advantage of Nations, and started to explain how the rising additive manufacturing (AM) industry should be viewed in that context. As I detailed, Porter views the rate of productivity

BigRep GmbH has been on a bit of a roller coaster recently, but with this latest news, I’m hoping that means the ride has stopped. Reporting approximately 45% revenue growth in the past year, the industrial large-format FFF 3D printing company is officially returning to private ownership two years after going public. In late 2023,

Additive manufacturing (AM) funding has shifted in China and the United States over the past five years, but in different ways. In China, metal 3D printing companies accounted for a growing share of suppliers receiving equity financing, while fewer polymer-focused companies attracted investment. In the US, aerospace and defense companies continued to raise capital even

If we’re inclined to organize our thoughts about history into decades for reasons other than the fact that we use a base-10 number system, it’s because in so many contexts, ten years is enough time to allow us to step back and observe meaningful change. It took the Greeks ten years to defeat the Trojans

What started with a hypercar is now taking Divergent Technologies into aerospace and defense manufacturing. By combining software, metal 3D printing and robotic assembly, the California-based manufacturer is working to make complex parts and structures with fewer production steps. But making parts for aircraft and defense equipment comes with another challenge: proving they work as

Back in August, Ursa Major, which uses additive manufacturing (AM) for propulsion components, announced that it plans to go public early in 2027 via the Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation (SPAC) path. Ursa Major is far more of a proven entity than were the AM companies that helped ignite the SPAC fire that briefly burned so

6K Additive (ASX: 6KA) reported higher revenue and a record order backlog in its latest quarterly results, as growing demand for metal powders continues to push the company to expand production. The Pennsylvania-based manufacturer is seeing more business from defense, aerospace, and industrial customers, while moving ahead with a major expansion of its U.S. manufacturing

WASP has an eco-friendly ethos. Indeed, the firm wants to build houses and communities using local, environmentally friendly, and sustainable materials. WASP works with ceramics, biocement, and earth. The company has a huge modular WASP Crane system but also wants to work on a village and has started by wanting to print houses in developing

Ask most people why additive manufacturing is fast, and they’ll point to the printer. A part that would take weeks to machine or mold comes off the build plate overnight. That’s true, but it’s not the whole story, and it isn’t the part of the story that’s changing how programs get to market. The real

Thomas Feldhausen works at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on hybrid manufacturing, DED, digital twins, and new manufacturing solutions. For years, he’s tried to marry traditional subtractive manufacturing with additive manufacturing for cost-effective, scalable production. Using simulations to improve results, improve tool pathing, and get better part properties, while using particle accelerators to improve results