Oliver Johnson
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In a total reversal of trends seen during the lockdowns of 2020, shipments of the highest-end 3D printers were on the rise and accelerating in the first quarter of 2022, while shipments of consumer-centric systems were down and decelerating, according to the latest by CONTEXT, the market intelligence company.
“As the world looks to additive manufacturing in an effort to overcome continuing supply-chain challenges, shipments in the strategic Industrial and Design price classes were up +7% and +19% respectively on Q1 2021,” said Chris Connery, Head of Global Analysis at CONTEXT. “These together accounted for 69% of total revenues for the quarter. Even more impressive was their growth compared to the same period of 2020, just before the onset of the pandemic.
CONTEXT also noted that shipments of Industrial systems were +53% greater than the same period two years ago and those of Design systems +36% greater.
Shipments of consumer-centric Personal and Kit&Hobby printers were up from pre-pandemic levels, but were down -25% and -47% on Q1 2021. Professional systems, which form the intermediate segment of this category, are looking for a catalyst as performance over Q1 2022 was relatively flat: up just +2% year-on-year and +7% on Q1 2022.
In Q1 2022 there was the greatest growth seen in metal Binder Jetting where printer shipments were up +113% over Q1 2021. Binder Jetting is not a dominant technology, but is one of the fastest growing in the industry. Desktop Metal, along with recently acquired ExOne, leads in market share for metal Binder Jetting, with HP and GE looking to soon enter the space.
In terms of total machine shipments, China’s UnionTech was the volume leader once again, but saw numbers drop -6% from a year ago. The ‘zero COVID’ policy in China that has resulted in long lockdowns in major cities, has stalled the growth of additive manufacturing in China, after having impressive numbers over the past few years. Shipments in the first quarter of this year are only up by +2% from last year.
The top 10 companies working in design printers all shipped more systems in Q1 2022 than in Q1 2021. Material Jetting proved to be a strong technology in this period with 3D systems seeing a +53% year-on-year increase. Stratasys was up +44% with its PolyJet technology.
MakerBot, a company that recently announced a merger with Ultimaker, will split away from parent company Stratasys. MakerBot creates both Professional and Personal systems. The MakerBot strength in the US market and education sector will compliment that of Ultimaker, which now focuses on the Professional segment and is the most dominant in the EMEA region.
While Professional units from Ultimaker and Formlabs accounted for 55% of those shipped in Q1 2022, other vendors in the top five, Raise3D and SprintRay, saw better growth. The significance of the market leaders, and the slight share shift in the category, can be demonstrated by excluding the top two brands from the analysis: without them, total unit shipments would have been up +16% year-on-year.
Shipments of the lowest-end printers were significantly down on last year but a few vendors had some success in the education sector. Personal shipments saw some success as governments across the world look to support the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths.
Subsidies from Poland’s Laboratoria Przyszłość (Laboratories of the Future) programme led to some significant projects especially for Polish vendors, such as Zortrax, and others with a strong presence in the country.
MakerBot also recently highlighted government support for 3D printers in schools in other regions, including the US, although these are not yet evident in sales figures. A hopeful sign for this low-end of the market is the resurgence of the recently subdued crowdsourcing sector, in Q1 2022, Anker raised a record 8.9 million USD on Kickstarter against a pre-order of over 12,000 printers.
In the near term, CONTEXT expects industries such as aerospace and dentistry to remain key with current forecasts projecting a +24% rise in unit shipments and a +29% rise in system revenues for the full year in the industrial class.
Chris Connery said: “In spite of headwinds from factors including global inflation, a slowdown in China’s economy related to current COVID mitigation efforts, looming fears of regional recessions, and the ongoing Russian incursion into Ukraine, manufacturers of Industrial 3D printers remain bullish in their collective outlook for 2022.”
Price classes for fully assembled finished goods as determined by CONTEXT: Personal <$2,500; Professional $2,500–$20,000; Design $20,000–$100,000; Industrial $100,000+ Kit & Hobby printers require assembly by purchaser.
