As the aviation industry recovers from a massive and unprecedented hit, the AM lessons learned over the last two decades are now moving on to benefit other segments of the aerospace business. Advancements in space as well as in VTOLs, drones, helicopters and a number of other flying defense products are driving a new aerospace world order.
Additive manufacturing is a key enabling technology to usher in this new era for the aerospace industry, one where personal air-transportation is no longer just for the extraordinarily wealthy and space is no longer just an impossible dream for 99.9999996% (est.) of the human population.
These new means of aerial, orbital and deep-space transportation will be leveraging AM for an increasingly large number of parts. Initially, because AM will support the smaller batch production requirements with tool-less manufacturing and a streamlined supply chain. Eventually, as these industries continue to grow, so will AM’s productivity rates, to the point that even mass production will be enabled through digital additive workflows. Considering that in many cases these will be personal transportation devices, personalization will also be a major driver to adopt additive manufacturing for its mass customization potential.
Manufacturing on Demand
The “Make it Rain” mission launched on June 29, 2019
At 3dpbm, we have built upon some of the most recent market research for each of these segments and combined it with our understanding of the AM market to present an analysis and forecast of the revenue opportunities that this new aerospace world order may bring to AM hardware and AM materials manufacturers as well as AM Service providers and AM parts manufacturers.
In our upcoming AM Focus 2020 Aerospace eBook (which will be released on June 30th) we will present a scenario where this new aerospace segment will grow into a $17 billion market by 2030, up from about $3 billion today. This figure includes all AM hardware, AM materials as well as AM parts produced in the three primary segments we have identified: Space, Personal Air Transportation (PAT) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Which types of AM parts will be produced for each of these segments and how much they will be worth is going to be discussed in depth.
As always the eBook will be free to download or browse online. So stay tuned. In the meantime, please explore our previous AM Focus 2020 eBook editions.
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Author: Davide Sher
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