Inyour opinion, what are the major trends and driving factors in the field of 3D printing and additive manufacturing at the moment?
One fundamental trend is the steady transformation of 3D printing from a pure prototyping technology to a fundamental technology for both prototyping and manufacturing. We are at an inflection point where the development of new additive manufacturing materials is accelerating significantly and the technology platforms are maturing. And at a time when manufacturers are facing a period of revolutionary change, making the benefits of additive manufacturing even more attractive.

Materials play a central role, creating more points of contact with production. Our own lead times for new materials have been drastically reduced thanks to our new open material model. Previously, a new FDM material was launched every 12 or 18 months. In 2022 alone, however, a dozen materials were released.

In the meantime, technology is no longer just about 3D printers. As we move towards manufacturing, it is increasingly about expansion, and the entire ecosystem is becoming more and more important. Starting from the 3D printer, the ecosystem is moving upstream towards additive design, process certification, planning, file preparation and other functions, and downstream towards automated post-processing. In the coming years, the integration of Industry 4.0 and even advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) will drive its use in manufacturing.

The consolidation of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) is considered the favorite for the anticipated trends of 2023 - how do you think this will play out?
In my opinion, there will be extensive consolidation. The use cases for additive manufacturing are less proven for metals. In my opinion, this is the reason why there is more guesswork in the metal additive manufacturing sector. Innovative new companies are still needed. However, we have acquired some of these companies to offer more compelling and complete solutions to our global customers. This requires scale and a global organization to support and bring to market. We can now offer solutions along the entire product value chain on a single software platform. This is what our customers are looking for.

What are the biggest challenges facing the 3D printing industry right now?
The biggest challenges are the same as in the rest of the world: supply chains, energy prices, labor availability and general market buoyancy. The good news is that we are part of the solution for manufacturers, even though these global factors affect OEMs in additive manufacturing as much as anyone else. The introduction of additive manufacturing along the entire value chain can increase manufacturers' flexibility and give them great scope for dealing with external forces. Additive manufacturing still has enormous potential and can make further advances to replace other manufacturing techniques and materials. Machined metals, for example, can be replaced by 3D-printed engineering polymers and composites.

I believe that we need to express these advantages better in pure, economic figures. For example, we have defined exactly where additive manufacturing makes more sense than injection molding and how this is reflected in the unit costs. At the end of the day, it's the economic aspects that matter, not the features. This is a major change for our industry.

Inyour opinion, where are the greatest opportunities for additive manufacturing in production today?
The requirements of manufacturers and the possibilities of additive manufacturing are converging and meeting in the middle. In the area of manufacturing, it can be observed that requirements are shifting towards smaller series, greater individualization and increasing backshifting. Manufacturers see the benefits of smaller-scale production of spare parts according to demand.

On the other hand, additive manufacturing offers more and more possibilities: more technologies, more materials, a higher degree of certification and repeatability as well as lower unit costs and higher quantities. The most attractive economic prospects today are for small, more complex components in small quantities of around 10,000 pieces, but in some cases up to 200,000 pieces. In my opinion, there will be more and more points of contact between manufacturing requirements and 3D printing in the future. And every point of contact opens up the possibility of new applications.

What will the future hold for us and where do you think the journey is heading?
I think you can always learn something about the future by looking at a product's bill of materials. 3D printing technologies have evolved in recent years in such a way that we can produce components in larger quantities with lower unit costs. This trend is likely to continue. More of these parts in a bill of materials will become economically attractive for an additive manufacturing process. If you look at a typical bill of materials, you can't normally print every component, but today between 20 and 50% of all components are usually technically and economically viable for 3D printing. The percentage depends on the number of plastic components, their complexity, size and cost. The more complex the component is, especially if it is smaller than 200 mm, the more likely it is that a traditional process such as injection molding can be replaced by additive manufacturing.

A major obstacle to the introduction of additive manufacturing is the selection of components. This requires certain expertise in conventional and additive manufacturing processes. Some additive OEMs support customers in this process of identifying parts, and some software providers offer solutions for automated part selection. Application engineers in particular are of central importance for the identification of components. But also for modifying designs for additive manufacturing and reducing the bill of materials by combining parts, further improving the business case. We have just started this kind of analysis. That's why we are so confident about the future growth of 3D printing in manufacturing.

Finally, can you say something about what to expect from Stratasys itself in the short to medium term?
We are focused on investing in more robust software resources, further growth in materials following our acquisition of Covestro's materials business and delivering complete solutions for use cases across different industries. There will still be exciting new 3D printers. But our activities in software and materials will be just as interesting, especially as we can address complete digital workflows for key applications in the dental, healthcare, fashion and manufacturing industries.