3DP/AM software market to $740M in 2021; $2.2B by 2025

Charlottesville, Virginia - SmarTech Publishing has just published “3D Printing Software Markets 2016: An Opportunity Analysis and Ten-Year Forecast,” which identifies and quantifies the commercial opportunities presented by software for 3D printing/additive manufacturing (3DP/AM). According to this report, such software will reach $741 million by 2021 and go on to achieve $2.2 billion by 2025.

About the report:

• By defining the critical software functionalities in 3DP/AM, this report segments the 3DP/AM printing and scanning software markets in a way that enables industry stakeholders to attack the next generation of software development opportunities.
• The report also features a purpose-built 3D printing software market forecasting model, allowing for an unprecedented level of market forecast data specific to 3DP/AM software opportunities. These forecasts include revenue, install base and site license forecasts with breakouts by end-user industry and the type of software. Forecasts are in this report are over a ten-year period.

The report provides insight on the following types of software: workflow software, 3D inspection tools, reverse engineering/3D scan tools, other optimization tools, application-specific 3DP tools, other production management tools, prep tools and machine processing software. It also provides specific insight into how 3DP/AM software will be in used in specific end user markets including aerospace, automotive, dental, medical, consumer products and service bureaus.

In addition to forecasts and market analysis, this report also includes an assessment of the leading firms active in the 3DP/AM software space. Firms discussed in this report include: 3D Systems, 3Shape, Additive Works, Adobe, Altair, Artec, Autodesk, Avante Technology, Concept Laser, Creaform, Dassault Systemes, Enhanced Geometry Solutions, EnvisionTEC, EOS, Faro, GOM, Konica Minolta, Materialise, Onshape, Renishaw, Siemens, Sindoh, Solution X, Stratasys, Trimble and Z Corporation.

The report includes discussions of all the latest trends in the 3DP/AM space including the continued integration of 3D printing specific feature sets directly in CAD software platforms, efforts to develop software tool specific to the challenge of metal additive manufacturing, and the effect of distributed print environments featuring diverse print technologies.

From the report:

• In 2021 almost 30% of the 3DP/AM software market will come from application-specific tools – tools designed specifically for anatomical models, surgical guides, some consumer products, and others items that are fabricated around a specific workflow pattern. The low-hanging fruit for this kind of software will be found in the dental, medical, and jewelry industries. Already the medical industry seems well positioned for expansion, with a wide variety of increasingly well-established applications to target. At least three primary software development companies seem to be focusing closely on the development of new application-specific 3D printing software tools. These are 3D Systems, Autodesk, and Materialise.
• By far the biggest market for 3DP/AM software can be found in the dental sector, which is expected to buy $175 million in software in 2021. The next biggest end-user segment is consumer products, which will account for $107 million in software in the same year. The dental industry is well positioned to become a leading purchaser of 3DP/AM software, due to its rapid transition to digital production. In consumer products, the number of installed systems across a wide variety of consumer product industries will mean the development of build processing software will generate the most revenue. As adoption of 3D printing increases in both manufacturing and more widespread prototyping activity, print prep tools will likely be the next most important category of 3DP/AM software purchased by the consumer products sector.
• Despite the current market being fairly clearly divided between design oriented 3D printing software and workflow oriented 3D printing software, there is increasing evidence of feature-creep that is continuing to drive elements of workflow into design and vice versa. Optimization software will be of high potential value in the future because it can enable design for additive manufacturing and thus increase the total attractiveness of additive production. However, it is currently limited by high costs, and a disconnect to actual AM processes and the challenges associated with manufacturing such geometrically advanced structures.

Source: SmarTech Publishing