TCT Japan: Exhibitors show 3D printing's promise as a powerhouse lies in wait

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Behind 15 rows of chairs stood four more rows of upright visitors ahead of several others who sat on benches. One couple had dragged their seats across the naked concrete floor from elsewhere. All were hoping to get within earshot of the local and international speakers giving their impressions on the global and Japanese additive manufacturing markets.

Those insights, delivered by the likes of Context’s Chris Connery, Autodesk’s Peter Rogers, and AM Ventures’ Simon Lee provided the context to the TCT Japan 2020 exhibition.

Japan is quite the curious region when it comes to 3D printing technology. A manufacturing powerhouse, an early adopter of rapid prototyping, but not a market that has raced ahead of the rest, or even kept pace.

Not yet, anyway.        

It seems the country is taking a marathon approach to additive manufacturing rather than a sprint and at TCT Japan there was a feeling that the country will soon find its second wind.

Exhibiting again this year was Koiwai Additive Manufacturing. Born out of a casting business, the company believes it is alone in its adoption of the GE Additive X Line of printers and is supplying parts – apparently some of them end-use components – to Japan’s national space agency. Kunpei Kawamoto of its Business Development Team also told TCT the company has additively manufactured parts for a race car in Germany and is working on multi-material capabilities in powder processes.

GE Additive’s technology was highlighted on Mitsubishi Corporation Technos’ stand where lightweighted skateboard trucks were showcased. These components, which are the part of the skateboard where the wheels attach to, were topologically optimised and printed in titanium on a Concept Laser M2 cusing machine. One boasted a weight saving of 32%, an increase in stiffness by 25% and volume saving of 70%, while the other had weight savings of 25%, an increase in stiffness by 50% and volume savings of 60%.

Toray Engineering, another local company, used TCT Japan to launch its first additive machine. Traditionally a materials provider, Toray has forayed into hardware with a platform that builds shells with a thermoset resin and then integrates carbon fibre before heat-treating the parts once they come off the printer. Markforged had its carbon fibre systems dotted around the show too. Stratasys, 3D Systems and EnvisionTEC all had representation, while Flashforge and Formlabs boasted some of the busiest booths of the week.

Two companies with Japanese heritage you’ll have heard of, DMG Mori and Nikon, co-exhibited as a result of a business alliance agreed back in November. Through that partnership, Nikon is using DMG’s global sales network and so the manufacturing giant is distributing the Lasermeister 100a. Joining Nikon’s metal additive manufacturing machine on DMG’s stand was the LASERTEC 12 SLM system, designed, like most of its products, with manufacturing in mind – companies are said to be using the machine in Japan for tooling and aerospace applications.

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Exhibit at the UK's definitive and most influential 3D printing and additive manufacturing event, TCT 3Sixty.

Another metal 3D printing vendor, Velo3D, was also showcased at TCT Japan. Launching the Sapphire system in Japan was industrial gas company Taiyo Nippon Sanso, who were talking locals through the machine’s ability to print at low angles without needing support structures and capacity to address volume manufacturing needs. EOS had one of the largest booths at the show with partner NTT Data and highlighted a series of aerospace applications, such as the combustion engine 3D printed entirely with a custom machine for Launcher and a hydraulic manifold produced by aidro. This component was being presented as an example of design for additive manufacturing – multiple parts turned into one, a 75% weight reduction and no caps or plugs were needed for auxiliary machining. 

Digital Metal had its own booth at the show highlighting the ability of its binder jetting platforms to produce small components, while ExOne was being represented by Pacific Sova Group. On that booth were ExOne’s Innovent + and X1 25Pro machines. The latter, as of the morning on day one at least, is yet to have been sold by the company since adding it to the portfolio last year with the company suggesting its customers have preferred to start with the smaller Innovent+ platform.

It’s an indicator as to where Japan is at with additive manufacturing. ExOne’s X1 250Pro system is one that promises high resolution, tight tolerances, good surface quality and supports a range of full density single alloys used in the metal injection moulding world, but local companies here are considered in their investment. Pacific Sova Group said it would be two or three years before manufacturers really start integrating these technologies into their manufacturing workflows, while some suggest it’ll be longer.

BASF, a company who typically only ever wants to ship materials by the truckload, was here to launch its Forward AM 3D printing solutions brand in Japan. It has stepped into the 3D printing market knowing the technology is primed for low-volume production rather than mass-volume but wanted to ‘support the entire value chain’ of its customers. It’s under no illusions that the Japanese market is still developing but the company says it wanted to 'get here early.'

This idea chimes with the thoughts of Jo Anseeuw, a Japanese resident for 16 years who operates as Materialise’s Managing Director here – he was also the 12th employee at the company back in the 1990s but that’s a story for another time. Anseeuw believes locals will want to see a consistent presence from companies at shows like TCT Japan and while a widespread implementation of the technology for manufacturing purposes is still down the road, those who have remained committed to the market are that bit more likely to profit.

Materialise, for example, has been here for 20 years and as a result, ‘we sell to everyone’ Anseeuw told TCT. Still, the company was providing demos of a number of its software products including Magics, which Anseeuw had a big hand in developing some 20+ years ago – again, for another time – and attracted much attention with a nest of dozens of different components facilitated by one of its Magics tools.

Anseeuw isn’t the only software specialist to have settled in Japan in the noughties and to have been at TCT Japan this week. Rogers has lived here for 12 years and participated in a panel session on day one which focused on domestic additive adoption and implementation. Perhaps his biggest take was that not only could he foresee Japan becoming an additive manufacturing powerhouse, but in ten years, which was the timeframe served to him by moderator and TCT Head of Content Dan O’Connor, the country could be 'better at it than everyone else'. Anseeuw agreed. Right now, end-use parts are being additively manufactured ‘here and there’ but when the technology becomes as repeatable and reliable as they – and everyone else – would like, Japan will be able to ‘roll it out in a very systematic and very profound way.’

The modest size of TCT Japan suggests the Japanese market is a way behind the likes of North America, Germany and China, but the aisles remain busy, conversations continue in the designated meeting area and still people stand at the back of the conference. Growing incrementally, it seems we should be ready to watch Japan manoeuvre quickly in the future.

But first, the technology must improve. Anseeuw said Japan never really bought into the hype around 3D printing ten years back – that despite a constant appreciation of two 3D printed violins at the show, which will invoke memories of a certain Economist cover story for many – and its companies in industries like automotive, consumer electronics and semiconductors are considered risk-averse while demanding precision and high quality products.

This is a country that seemingly had no problem in investing, installing and applying stereolithography machines for prototyping in the early years. It’s been raised this week that perhaps those machines still work for those applications, and thus no need to invest again. For the kind of applications this industry is striving to facilitate next, the kind it has the potential to facilitate as demonstrated on a host of stands at TCT Japan, it is apparent that there is still work to be done on the reliability and repeatability of 3D printing technology.

The departing feeling, as I close my laptop, pack up my notes and go for a final walk of the show floor, is that the country's interest in this technology is deep and when 3D printing is ready to enable those desired applications, Japan will let us know.