Formnext 2022 Wrapped!

November is that time of year for us additive manufacturing folk. It’s when we all start fine-tuning our diaries, digging up our Euros (the taxis – they never take cards!) and packing our bags to head on over to Frankfurt for a week of AM festivities at Formnext.

The good folks at Mesago-Formnext were keen to get some of my post-show impressions, so here it is. If you’re not one for reading however, never fear! I gave a recorded talk on the last day of Formnext. If you’d rather not see Friday-Alex with her end-of-show voice, read on for some of my big themes, takeaways, and thoughts from my time in Frankfurt.

Greening AM

Sustainability is something that I think much of the 3d printing industry has struggled with to date; consultancy firm Roland Berger recently put out a scathing report on greenwashing in 3d printing. There are broad claims to 3d printing being a more sustainable technology choice due to reduced material usage, and on-demand and localised production leading to a lower carbon footprint; however the reality is that very rarely are these claims properly substantiated with proper data, case studies, and critically, life cycle assessments (LCAs). Yet at Formnext this year there was a noticeable uptick in the sustainability theme. Here were a few standouts for me.

Stratasys released their ‘mindful manufacturing’ report in April this year, and at Formnext they focused primarily on the application space. They unveiled the UILA (pronounced “yu-lah”), a four-wheeled electric bike developed in collaboration with nFrontier that is more of a e-mobility vehicle than a bike. A number of 3d printing technologies were used in the development of the UILA which were said to be helpful for prototyping and reducing carbon footprint. Maybe. My lasting impressions were the 'Let's get ready to rumble' dance music played as the big sheet came off.

EOS and Arkema announced a carbon neutral polyamide PA 1101, and a carbon-reduced PA 2200 intended for a future release date. It does seem that most of the sustainability effort on the polymer side stems from moving away from fossil-fuel based polymers to bio-based, renewable feedstock inputs, and this one is no different, being made from "sustainable castor oil". The challenge is always that the new material still meets existing specifications, and these ones apparently do.

Speaking of materials, on the metals side 6K Additive announced a partnership with Fraunhofer to develop a “comprehensive lifecycle assessment” for its waste-to-powder process. The study will complement prior LCAs conducted for their Ni718 powders that found they have a 92% reduced carbon emissions footprint. In a not dissimilar vein, first-time exhibitor Metal Powder Works debuted their DirectPowder Process, a bar to powder milling process that claims a 90% carbon footprint reduction.

Forward AM/BASF have their #ProjectZero initiative that seeks to reduce environmental impact across all areas of their business. To that end, their stand at Formnext was constructed of sustainable materials where possible and designed with re-use of different stand elements in mind. Speaking of company stands, there was a noticeable increase in the amount of greenery on the stands at Formnext. EOS had a full ceiling of green ferns and GE had a green wall to name a few.

There was barely a stand at Formnext that didn’t have some nod to sustainability, and it’s something I think we’ll see a lot more of in future. I just hope it's backed up with data.

What's happening downstream of 3d printing

Post-processing has been a recurrent theme at Formnext since 2019; it's a sign of an industrialising industry, but 2022 saw an increase in post-processing combined with automation to truly take the pain out of the post-processing problem. In addition to automation, was a lot more emphasis on the ‘factory floor’ concept, demonstrating how automation and post-processing can be incorporated into a factory.

The standout booth for such a demonstration was AM-Flow’s AM-QUALITY which they launched at the show. Said to be the first in-line quality assurance inspection system for additively manufactured parts, with a resolution down to 50 microns. I remember seeing AM-Flow at PitchNext in 2020 (at the virtual show, remember that?), and it’s fascinating to see their quick progression.

Speaking of inspection and quality assurance, Stratasys showcased their P3 Automated Production Cell, demonstrating what an automated line of Origin One printers might look like in a production environment. The P3 isn’t for sale as such, but is more a demonstration of what is possible when producing many parts on a fleet of Origin Ones. Stratasys has also recently acquired Riven, a quality assurance inspection software that indicates Stratasys’ ongoing interest in developing downstream solutions for their customers. It’s nice to see such efforts from OEMs who have typically shied away from downstream responsibilities.

On the metals side, de-powdering system providers Solukon finally launched SPR Pathfinder – software that designs a de-powdering regime for more complex parts. I’ve been anticipating this launch since meeting with Solukon at Formnext in 2019! In 2022 the latest metal post-processing solution that caught my eye was British-based Rivelin Robotics. CEO Robert Bush presented at the Pitchnext event and explained how their combination of software and robotics could automatically and reliably remove support structures (even when there are build variations!) Seems simple, but it’s definitely not and certainly addresses many of the issues faced in serial production.

A changing investment landscape

Not necessarily on show, but certainly a big topic amongst all the chatter, at least for me, was how much the investment landscape is changing for AM. Amidst rising inflation across the developed world, a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. What does this mean? Growth-based companies (*ahem* most 3d printing companies) are losing their shine for investors. Valuation metrics are shifting quickly towards more traditional indicators such as EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes….you get the idea – actual money earned). There is an increased focus on profitability *today*. We’ve seen some of the impacts of this already, with many companies doing broad-sweeping headcount reductions through 2022, and I suspect profitability will be a management focus for the next two to three years at least.

Another notable trend that was occurring already, but was an important theme at Formnext, was the sharing of booth space amongst partnering companies, and customer parts and demonstrations. Gone are the days of ‘buy my machine’ or ‘buy my material’, now we see ‘let me show you how customers of our have used our product to their advantage’. It’s a good shift and a positive for the industry that suppliers are ever keener to collaborate with their end-users. Combined with an increased profitability focus, I suspect this will rapidly mature the AM industry over the coming years.

I was lucky enough to catch Chris Connery from CONTEXT present on sizing and forecasting of the global 3d printing market. Using shipping data of machines Chris is able to extract a vast amount of information and insights into what is driving the 3d printing market. Chris confirmed what many of us already suspected – industrial 3d printing is a major driver of revenue in the 3d printing market, and of the industrial market, metal 3d printing is responsible for more than half of that revenue, despite having lower overall volumes. There’s still plenty of room to grow and I anticipate that future revenue growth will be driven by industrial metal 3d printing.

The future after a global pandemic

Exhibitor floorspace, the number of exhibitor companies, and the number of visitors to Formnext in 2022 is basically back to 2019 levels, and that is despite the fact that many Chinese and Russian companies and visitors were not in attendance. Through the pandemic there were rumblings about in-person events being a thing of the past, and while we have certainly matured a number of new ways to connect and do business, it’s clear there’s just no substitute for in-person conversations and time spent together. On that note, all the booth happy hours and after hours dinners and parties were back in full swing again. More on that later!

Not just for sales

Every time I visit Formnext I’m reminded of the fact that this is far from a transactional trade show. Partner events are constantly happening all around the trade show halls. The international 3d and 4d design competition, the Purmundus challenge, did a retrospective on the last ten years’ worth of design winners. The great thing about Purmundus is that anyone can submit their design, as shown by the winners that ranged from university students, to start-ups, to global corporations.

BE-AM, the Built Environment Additive Manufacturing is a symposium and exhibition held at Formnext that brings all the activities and individuals working on AM in construction under one roof (like that pun?) Another conference held every year at Formnext is the TCT conference, which is focused on the latest in 3d printing (keynote speakers hailed from Honda, Boeing, GE Healthcare and Divergent, to give you a flavour). My personal highlight as mentioned above was Chris Connery from CONTEXT with his analysis of the 3d printing market.

The AM4U stage (also held at IMTS in Chicago this year) had four days of non-stop content, with everything from educational/beginner seminars, to insightful and informative panels. My personal favourite (and favourite thing to attend at Formnext in general!) is PitchNext, where you get all the quick, five minute pitches from the start-up challenge winners. This is the place to go to get a brilliant overview of all the best AM start-ups from all over the world. So often I discover a new AM company that ends up being ‘the next big thing’ at PitchNext (see reference to AM-Flow above!)

Of course you can’t be in all places at all times, or at least I can’t, so I unfortunately missed a few other events such as the France partner country event, the VDMA showcase, the Career day, and the business match-making event, but these were all happening during the week and available for everyone to attend and participate in.

When I think of everything that can be enjoyed during a week at Formnext I’m reminded that this is a show built on building a community. And there’s no better example of that than the Rave ‘Til AM party on Tuesday, and the Formnext Party on Thursday. I don’t know of any other industry that has an endorsed rave, or party, but we had both! In one week! And for the party go-ers that were looking for something to do on Wednesday, AMT PostPro put on a highly enjoyable dance party, sorry, I mean….networking event. The AM industry is a community because we choose to spend time together, even once all the business of the day is done.

Alex, are you finished yet?

Phew, if you’re exhausted getting through this, then thanks! But also – you can start to see now why there’s so much to squeeze in with all that is on offer. The above is just a fraction of what happens at Formnext, and doesn’t even include the one-on-one meetings, media briefings, the off-site visits, the dinners, and the launches. And hang on, I haven’t even mentioned all the swag you come home with. YES Formnext is the best place to go to get across all the latest trends and technology developments, but it’s also a great show to attend to connect with everyone and everything across the world in the AM field.

So, see you in Frankfurt in November 2023? ??