Additive Manufacturing: A Quiet Revolution

The cork is only just out of the bottle

By David Galland, for the Rational Optimist Society

Table of Contents

• 3D printing 101

• The investing boom and bust

• What AM is good at

• What it's not good at

• Where's this all headed?

“Here’s a fun fact: The International Space Station (ISS) has had a 3D printer on board since 2014. The printer was designed to work in microgravity and was part of an experiment to test the feasibility of additive manufacturing in space.

Earlier this year, the European Space Agency shipped an experimental 3D metal printer to the space station, which subsequently printed the first-ever metal part in the station, pictured here.”

Before diving into this Deep Dive—a dive so deep our editor and ROS co-founder

Dan Steinhart

deemed a Table of Contents necessary—I’d like to dispel the notion of a magical box that sits on your desk and prints anything your heart desires on command.

While that simplistic view of 3D printing distracts most people, behind the scenes, 3D printing is quietly revolutionizing how we manufacture things.

In the following paragraphs, my goal is to familiarize you with the technology and to explain what this quiet revolution means to you. And, yes, there may also be an interesting investing angle.

—David Galland

Writing from Cafayate, Argentina
December, 2024

3D Printing 101

The technology once known as 3D printing, now commonly called additive manufacturing—or AM if you’re on a first-name basis—uses computer-linked machines to “print” solid, three-dimensional versions of CAD designs.

Typically, the machines lay down an extremely thin layer of a chosen material and continue adding layers until the object is complete. This process may require depositing hundreds of thousands of layers and can take hours, days, or even weeks depending on the complexity of the design, the machine, and the materials used.

In the early days, 3D printers primarily used resins and plastics in their constructions. Today, they work with a wide variety of materials, including metallic compounds, carbon nanotubes, food products, biological tissues, and even cement.

Depending on the material, AM can produce anything from a simple plastic toy to a two-stage, 270-ft-tall rocket.

Since AM machines can be located virtually anywhere in the world, repairing or producing a specialized part—say, a part for a Boeing 747 landing in Kuala Lumpur—only requires access to a local AM printing facility and the appropriate digital design uploaded from Boeing’s headquarters in Seattle.

Using AM, the repair can be made at a fraction of the time and cost it would otherwise take.

Scratch down a level, and you’ll discover the cork is only just out of the bottle. That’s because, henceforth, Boeing no longer needs to manufacture and keep in stock most of the 200,000 or so unique parts that go into a 747.

Additive Manufacturing Today

In researching this story, I reached out to a long-time friend, Sir Nigel Burney, chairman of Rapid News Group—publishers of the UK’s leading magazine dedicated to the additive manufacturing industry and organizers of that country’s most prestigious annual AM trade show.

I was prepared for Nigel to regale me with amazing tales of new and exciting applications for AM. You know, the sort of magic box stuff those of a certain generation might associate with The Jetsons.

Ever the understated professional, Nigel let me down gently. And here I must paraphrase.

“It’s actually quite boring, I’m sorry to say.”

He went on to explain that while 3D printing is revolutionizing key aspects of the manufacturing industry, saving businesses untold hours and hundreds of millions of dollars, the retail consumer applications are still quite limited.

Yes, there are companies now using AM to create bespoke items for personal use. For example: spectacle frames designed to fit your face exactly, shoe footbeds precisely tailored to your trotters, and earbuds that nest snuggly into your uniquely shaped ear canals.

And there are hundreds of thousands of hobbyists using AM to create the equivalent of bobbleheads to impress friends and family—though occasionally falling just a tad short.

To get an idea of what’s on offer for the casual user, check out this site: All3DP. There, you will find the design for this adorable quartet available for purchase:

Lest you are tempted to scoff at the hobbyists, you might be surprised to learn that Thingiverse—the premier online 3D platform for hobbyists—boasts over 2 million registered users.

Furthermore, in 2021 alone, approximately 2 million 3D printers were sold, with total sales projected to exceed 20 million by 2030—the majority going to hobbyists.

So, yes, we can state with no fear of contradiction that those who enjoy printing bobbleheads are well served by the technology, but that is just the very tip of a surprisingly large iceberg.

A Brief Overview of the Different AM Processes

For the record, I tend to look down my nose at writers who lazily rely on artificial intelligence (AI) engines like ChatGPT to answer questions such as, “Succinctly name the top five most widely used AM processes and how they work,” then wander into the kitchen for an invigorating cup of Sumatra coffee while the AI does its work.

So what are the top five most widely used AM processes?

1. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM):

   • How it works: A plastic string (called filament) is melted by a hot nozzle and laid down in thin layers to build the shape of the object. Each layer cools and hardens before the next one is added.

   • Common materials: PLA, ABS (types of plastic)

2. Stereolithography (SLA):

   • How it works: A liquid resin (a type of plastic) is hardened into layers using a special UV light or laser. This process creates the object one layer at a time inside a tank of liquid.

   • Common materials: Liquid resin that hardens with light

3. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS):

   • How it works: A laser heats up and fuses powdered material (like plastic or metal) into solid layers. The powder around the object supports it during printing and is brushed off when it's done.

   • Common materials: Nylon, soft plastics, metal powders

4. Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS):

   • How it works: A laser melts metal powder into solid layers to make the object. The layers are fused together tightly, creating a very strong and dense part.

   • Common materials: Titanium, aluminum, stainless steel

5. Binder Jetting:

   • How it works: A printer sprays a glue-like binder onto powdered material to stick it together layer by layer. Later, the object is baked in a furnace to make it strong.

   • Common materials: Metal powder, ceramics, sand

After having spent who knows how long compiling that list—and braced by a strong cup of coffee, which seems to have appeared from nowhere—we move on with our exposition of the wonderful world of additive manufacturing.

The Investing Cycle: Boom, Bust… Boom?

AM was invented in 1983, but it took a while before it evolved enough to become widely noticed by John Q. Public, after which dreamers and investors alike glommed on to the sector like it was free ice cream.

Readers of Popular Science—as well as the multitude of financial tout sheets—regaled Mr. Public with fantastical expositions of how everyone would soon be able to print this or that essential item from the comfort of their home or office.

Naturally, once Mr. Public became convinced 3D printing was “the next big thing,” attention shifted to the companies operating in the space, which were viewed in an exceptionally flattering light—much like a charming young heiress at a debutante ball.

Private equity poured into hastily organized startups, and a fortunate handful found their shares soaring.

Those of you who follow these things understand hype largely drives the early life cycle of most emerging technologies.

Yet, like a glass of champagne left too long on its own, bubbles soon dissipate, and the resulting wine takes on an unpleasant taste. The chart of the first publicly traded 3D printing company, Stratasys Ltd. (SSYS), illustrates the point:

In the COVID era, the sector briefly recaptured the attention of investors who felt remotely printing medical gear might prove useful. Alas, as the COVID lockdowns subsided, so did the popularity of the 3D printing sector:

Early investors who failed to follow the golden rule of cashing out while the froth is thick during these brief bouts of enthusiasm soon found themselves disillusioned and swearing to never have a thing to do with the sector again.

And so a quiet weariness descended across the sector, during which the pioneers got back to the hard work of actually making the technology into something useful.

The savvy operator will understand that the reasons the sector first sparked enthusiasm did not disappear—the technology just wasn’t quite ready for “prime time.”

There are puzzles to be solved, hurdles to be leapt, patents to be filed, efficiencies in manufacturing to be hammered out, and—in the case of 3D printing—materials to be experimented with in order to produce something more useful than a plastic bobblehead for the dashboard of your car.

While it's correct to feel pity for the early investors, the silver lining is that they provided the pioneers with the working capital needed to continue the evolutionary activities mentioned above and, over time, improve the technology to create things that truly matter.

For example, printing customized medical implants or even airplane parts out of super-strong metal alloys.

What 3D Printing Is Good for Today

Prototyping

Without question, prototyping is the best and most popular industrial application for 3D printing today. Before AM, experimenting with a new part for, say, a Formula One race team would require weeks of careful deliberation, followed by months of preparing casts or molds.

If the part subsequently fails to meet expectations, into the trash it goes—along with tens of thousands of dollars.

With AM, that process is increasingly a thing of the past. In fact, all of the Formula One teams now have AM design and printing operations, allowing their engineers to do iteration after iteration in hours or days instead of weeks, and at a fraction of the cost.

The value of this technology for prototyping is hard to overstate. Consider all the many visionaries out there with an idea to design the next iPhone, or reinvent the wheel, or come up with a newer and more efficient valve… or… or…

Previously, the time lapse between an “Ah Ha!” moment and holding the prototype in your hand would be months. 3D printing changes all that.

This single functionality of AM alone makes it worth celebrating as a high-powered accelerator for innovation and invention.

The Replacement or Repair of Parts in Remote Environments

Here’s a fun fact: The International Space Station (ISS) has had a 3D printer on board since 2014. The printer was designed to work in microgravity and was part of an experiment to test the feasibility of additive manufacturing in space.

Earlier this year, the European Space Agency shipped an experimental 3D metal printer to the space station, which subsequently printed the first-ever metal part in the station, pictured here.

The ability to print parts and tools on-demand is a gamechanger for astronauts who may find themselves needing to replace a broken toilet part, for example, without waiting for a resupply from Earth.

If humankind is actually going to attempt a Mars expedition, a 3D printer will be along for the ride.

Of course, if you can print objects in outer space, you can print them pretty much anywhere. For example, in a small town in the middle of Bolivia where getting a replacement part for your old Ford truck could take months and require paying all sorts of shipping and customs fees.

And then there are the places where maintaining a supply chain is highly problematic, like a battle field.

The military industrial complex is a BIG business: globally burning through about $2.4 trillion a year. What the war dogs want, the war dogs get.

And AM is very much on the menu for the warmakers. Which is easily understood when a part in your $100 million F-35 jet breaks down in Germany and the AM option is available to repair or reproduce it in a day or three.

In the current struggle between NATO and Russia on the territory of Ukraine, all manner of new war-fighting technologies are being tested out…

Including 3D printers like the British-made SPEE3D printer, which is portable enough to be deployed in the field where it is being used to repair or replace soldiers' equipment and service vehicles and drones.

Showing the growing versatility of AM technologies, the SPEE3D printer uses kinetic energy instead of lasers to solidify the layers and is capable of printing parts up to 1 meter thick (and weighing up to 40 kilos).

While the SPEE3D printer likely costs British taxpayers upward of a million dollars per unit, there are a growing number of more affordable metal-printing options available for industries operating in remote or hostile environments.

For example, mining operations in Mongolia or oil fields in Texas, where every minute of downtime can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Medical Devices

As mentioned, AM is now used to print custom earbuds for hearing aids and frames for spectacles, both of which we could consider to be of a medical nature.

More important, it is also being used to print customized parts for hip, knee, and joint replacements. Measurements are taken, specifications forwarded to labs and, presto, a replacement part is created fitting the client exactly.

AM is also now regularly used in the dental industry, printing implants to perfectly fit a patient’s mouth.

There has also been some success using low-level lasers and a biogel (which includes human cells) to print small patches of skin complete with the capillaries necessary to transport blood. Once approved by regulators, this printed skin could become commonplace to treat burn patients.

Then there’s research being done on what might be called “the Golden Ring of AM:” printing biological parts, including replacement organs using a patient’s own stem cells. We’re talking livers, pancreases, lungs, and even hearts.

However, for several reasons, the Golden Ring is nowhere near completion. For one, you have to keep the cells alive during the printing process, otherwise the organ will be useless—which means the entire printing process will have to be completed in less than an hour, and that’s pushing limits.

Additionally, the organ has to include all the intricate veins, capillaries, and nerves necessary for blood to circulate and for the organ to do its business. While AM is excellent at printing intricacies, when you are dealing with soft tissue… not so much.

Finally, there is the matter of building a structure out of biological materials. If you wanted to make a heart out of, say, titanium, no problem—the layers solidify nicely on top of each other. A mixture of cells is an entirely different proposition, requiring advanced technologies to create the structure while keeping the cells alive.

Bottom line: While printing solid replacement parts is now big business and printing skin is coming along, printing organs is still a ways off.

Small Batch Manufacturing

Per our Boeing airplane part example, AM shines when it comes to producing one-off and small batches of virtually anything. With AM, the parts can be incredibly complex and made up of all manner of materials.

Currently, over 50% of the revenue generated by the 3D printing industry is being generated from Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) machines using various metallic compounds, with titanium being a favorite due to its strength and light weight.

While the relatively slow speed of 3D printing is a big concern for large-scale manufacturing, something I’ll touch upon shortly, that is far less of a concern when printing parts in small batches or on-demand.

That said, inroads are being made on printer speed, at least for machines targeting hobbyists, small operators, and prototypers.

For example, Formlabs recently launched a machine claiming to be 5X faster than the current norm.

The machine was recently featured in TIME magazine’s “Best Inventions, 2024.” Here’s a picture and an excerpt from the article:

“3D printing is a game-changing technology, but it’s still pretty slow. Formlabs is changing that with Form 4. The desktop-sized 3D printer boasts print speeds up to five times faster than its predecessor by using a system that includes powerful LED lights and a custom LCD that helps turn liquid resin into solid layers.

Projects that once had to be done overnight can now be completed in a matter of hours, making the tech a viable replacement for traditional injection molding.

The machine allows for multiple iterations in a day, which Formlabs CEO and co-founder Max Lobovsky says lets hardware developers ‘take more design risks and, ultimately, bring better products to market.’ Early customers include Microsoft, Ford, and NASA.”

At this point in time, AM is being used for small-batch manufacturing in a large and growing number of companies.

When I asked Nigel about the availability of independent AM printing shops for those companies not wishing to run their own 3D printing operations, he answered these shops are now “ubiquitous.”

Putting his contention to the test, I searched for 3D printing shops in Kuala Lumpur and, sure enough, found multiple shops with a sophisticated range of equipment and capabilities. Pick a city, any city, and do a query. I think you’ll be surprised at the result.

Printing Structures

One of the more intriguing—and largely under-the-radar—applications of AM is in construction. The photo below shows the Wolf Ranch development in Georgetown, Texas, where the final few 100 3D-printed homes are now nearing completion.

The company behind the project, ICON, puts a mixture of concrete, sand, water, and additional additives into a tank, which then feeds a massive printing arm that lays down the housing layers. Each of the three- or four-bedroom houses takes about three weeks to complete. If you’re in the market, prices start at $400,000.

In 2020, a company called SQ4D printed a 1,900-square-foot building over an eight-day period, using only 48 hours of printing time. While I’m a bit skeptical, the company claims the construction used only about $6,000 in building materials.

Here’s a picture of the building:

SQ4D’s 3D Printed Home. Photo via SQ4D.

This from an article in 3D Printing Industry:

“SQ4D explains that the system is able to reduce the labor required to construct a home for as little as 3 people, accounting for up to 41% of the total construction of a house. It eliminates over 20 manual labor-intensive processes like siding, framing, sheathing, etc., helping to achieve faster build times. These 3D printed structures are said to be mold- and fire-resistant and built to withstand severe weather.”

Proving its chops as an innovation hub, Dubai currently holds the record for the world’s largest 3D-printed building—pictured here—at over 6,000 square feet. It’s set a goal of having 25% of all new construction done using AM by 2030.

The Arts

With the right 3D printer, you can print virtually anything, from a 15-foot-tall sculpture to the most delicate and intricate piece of jewelry.

Pictured here is a massive 3D-printed sculpture on display in New Zealand.

And rather than jewelers laboriously hand-making their shiny baubles, they are increasingly printing them using gold, silver, and platinum.

Not only does it save a tremendous amount of time, but it allows the client to easily customize and personalize the designs.

Here’s an example of a 3D printed ring. Do you recognize it? (If so, you may be a nerd, not a bad thing, imo.)

Specialized Printing

In March of 2023, startup Relativity Space launched its Terran One rocket into outer space. At 110 feet tall, it was—outside actual buildings—the largest object ever 3D printed at that time.

The picture here is of one of the company’s 3D-printed reusable rocket engines.

Beginning in 2026, the company will start competing with SpaceX for the growing space launch market using its proprietary 3D-printed rockets. It already has $1.8 billion in launch contracts lined up with various governments and private enterprises.

To grasp just how flexible and useful 3D printing can be, keep Relativity Space’s reusable rockets in mind—considering the complexity and strength required to propel large payloads into space.

Because if you can print reusable rockets, you can print pretty much anything.

What Additive Manufacturing Is Not Good For (Yet!)

Everyday Household Applications, Other than by Hobbyists

The idea of a fully functional 3D printer, standing by like a magic lantern waiting to fulfill your every material wish, is still years away.

While printing something like a pair of scissors or a dinner plate is commonplace, doing so with the machines currently available to non-commercial users is time-consuming.

Of course, if you’re a tinkerer by nature, you’re happy to expend the time and effort. But for most of us—for the foreseeable future—ordering through Amazon will prove to be a lot less hassle.

Large-Scale Production

At this point, AM is also not suitable for producing items en masse. While the industry is hard at work trying to overcome the challenges, a number of those challenges are not quickly solved.

Traditional manufacturing processes typically involve a production line where parts are stamped out or molds are injected with the desired material. These components then flow smoothly through successive steps, ultimately emerging at the end of the line as finished goods.

Today, once the equipment is properly arranged and molds cast, this sort of process is automated and efficient.

By contrast, the AM process requires laying down thousands of layers, with curing time required between each new layer. That takes time.

Of course, given the size of the potential market, AM pioneers are hard at work trying to solve the speed problem. For example, lasers are being used in a number of applications to more quickly solidify the metal powders forming the layers. But it is still cumbersome compared to traditional manufacturing.

In addition to the problem of speed, or lack thereof, there are other important limitations to the technology:

• Difficulty in duplicating perfection: Being able to perfectly duplicate “things” is a persistent problem with AM. This is a well-established consequence of the additive process.

  To wit, if you are printing something out of extruded plastic in Kuala Lumpur—where humidity is high—versus Arizona—where the climate is dry—there can be a variance. A minute variance, most likely, but a variance nonetheless.

  Even in the same shop, on the same day, variances will occur because maybe a puff of dust-laden air enters with the lunch deliveryman. Or because the air conditioning is turned on… or off.

  To be clear, in most cases, the variances are minuscule. However, if you require a large number of precisely manufactured parts in a timely manner, AM is not currently the ideal technology.

• A general lack of standards: Despite its rapid growth—or perhaps because of it—the 3D-printing industry still lacks a comprehensive set of production standards. This absence of standards creates inconsistencies across manufacturers, as different companies use a variety of unique processes and materials, leading to variations in product quality.

  For example, before an airline company—or the FAA looking over its shoulder—will allow vital parts to be printed here, there, and anywhere, it has to be absolutely certain the printing facilities operate on exactly the same standards, producing an identical part.

  Organizations like ASTM International and ISO are actively developing standards to address these gaps, focusing on aspects such as materials testing and finished product performance.

  However, progress is slow due to the constantly evolving nature of 3D-printing technology. While some frameworks are emerging, the industry still resembles a Wild West, with each manufacturer using its own methods. Remember when each computer manufacturer used a distinct type of charging cord? That sort of thing, but worse.

• Evolutionary risks: One notable industry-specific risk lies in the current evolutionary phase of development. Imagine that, as a corporate decision-maker, you recognize the potential value of fully committing to AM.

  Are you going to recommend investing, say, $10 million into AM equipment today, knowing dozens of entrepreneurial teams are working tirelessly to make their equipment faster, more reliable, and more versatile in the range of materials it can handle?

  It might help to think of this period in time as the “awkward” dating period. You like what’s on offer, but don’t want to move too fast.

On the Fringe… Printing Food

If you’re willing to put in the work, there are actually a number of options for printing food. Pictured here is the Foodini machine, which allows you to print edible structures in a variety of designs.

Basically, you load cartridges with emulsified versions of the contents you wish to print, then let the machine do its thing.

With apologies to the manufacturers of the machine, which sells for a handsome $6,000 (or may be rented on a monthly basis), I’m not sure many home cooks will find the machine appealing given it requires you to first prepare the gooey stuff that goes into the capsules.

You then need to organize and oversee the printing, followed by baking or otherwise curing the resulting food item.

(And, of course, you’ll want to remember to scrub out all the little bits of the printer to assure you don’t receive the added ingredient of Salmonella in your next cook.)

Does printing food have any use?

Apparently, a number of restaurants and chocolatiers are using AM to entertain patrons by duplicating specific culinary art pieces.

There are also companies developing edible materials made from nutritious but otherwise unappealing alternative ingredients, such as leftover food scraps, algae, or—heaven forbid—insects and the like.

This little beauty was printed out of a mash of vitamin-rich crickets. Mmm!

Somewhat more palatable, the Revo Foods in Austria offer pieces of faux salmon printed out of mushroom roots.

Is there a food printer in your future? Maybe, but probably not any time soon.

While I am sure I have overlooked examples of what 3D-printing is good for, I will leave it at that and move on to a couple of important considerations, then finish up with how you might personally benefit from the sector.

AI and AM Sitting in a Tree…

Sorry for the childish reference, but if there are two technologies better suited for K-I-S-S-I-N-G in a tree, they don’t quickly pop to mind.

That’s because AI excels at tasks critical to the AM industry, such as automating production processes to ensure a smooth workflow and managing quality control. Already, AI is used to monitor the production process, instantly detecting minute deviations to prevent printing defects.

This is a significant advantage, as the rejection rate for 3D-printed parts can reach as high as 75%, depending on the complexity of the CAD design.

AI will also play a key role in getting to the standardization mentioned earlier. For example, by creating programs that automatically produce the “slices” every AM digital design needs to get the job done.

The current state of the industry is not unlike when PCs first hit the market. In the beginning, you had to hire a programmer competent in writing gibberish in order to coax the desired result out of the machine. Then along came the Macintosh, and all of that went away—allowing us mere mortals to use common language to unlock the computer’s full potential.

If we’re going to get to a Jetsons-level ease of AM functionality for home (or office), AI will be the driver. Already, work is being done on text-to-3D designs suitable for printing.

I would bet that, soon, you’ll be able to describe what thing you’re in need of and have the image of it pop onto the screen for adjustments before AI programs it into a printable CAD.

Simply put, AI is going to make AM reach its full potential—and soon.

Show Me the Money!

Earlier, I mentioned Nigel’s comments about 3D printing being “a bit boring.” Functionally, it kind of is. You know… the part where printing heads zip back and forth, over and over, until the desired 3D structure emerges.

But when you look at the rapid growth the industry is experiencing—and has been for decades—you begin to find there’s excitement aplenty.

To put a number to it, the AM industry has grown at a 25% annual rate every year since 1983, to the point where it is now over a $20 billion industry. Based on extensive research produced by Wohlers Associates, annual revenues generated by AM companies are projected to reach over $100 billion by 2033.

To understand the economics of the industry, let’s consider the Boeing 747 part from the beginning of this article.

The production inputs required by the local AM firm in Kuala Lumpur will be limited to the CAD program provided by Boeing—paid for by the airplane operator—and a relatively small amount of titanium powder.

Perhaps the not-so-bright nephew of the AM firm’s owner gets to push the button to set the machine printing, and a more qualified person or two are needed to do the quality checks and finishing work to make sure the resulting part meets expectations. But it won’t take much more than that.

In other words, the cost of the inputs and the finishing of the part will be minimal, allowing the company to earn substantial margins.

Besides the 3D printing companies, AM revenue generation comes from the aforementioned 3D-printing support platforms that boast hundreds of thousands of avid users. These users pay a small fee for the latest printable designs hosted on the platforms.

Then there are the machine builders, whose numbers are growing rapidly. While the majority of printers are sold to hobbyists for somewhere between $300 and $2,500, the industrial printers—which cost $100,000 or more—represent about 76% of total revenue made from printer sales.

Of course, there are also the suppliers of the printable materials. The authoritative VoxelMatters guide to AM companies lists a total of 680 such companies. Stepping back to view the broader picture, the Voxel guide lists over 7,000 suppliers to the AM industry.

In other words, despite quietly flying below the radar, AM is already a serious business. Other industries generating annual revenues comparable to the current $20 billion AM sector include the music industry, e-sports, and space-related industries.

At the $100 billion mark, AM will be hanging out in the exalted company of the luxury goods industry, pet care, the toy industry, and digital advertising.

Over the next few years, the sector’s growth is bound to once again catch the eye of the aforementioned Mr. Public, which could represent an opportunity for attentive investors.

While The Rational Optimist Society is not in the business of providing investment advice, for those of you interested in the 3D-printing industry, I would caution patience.

In the course of writing this article, I delved under the hoods of a number of prominent players in the space and wasn’t particularly impressed from a financial standpoint.

As the industry becomes more standardized and stabilizes, this will change and winners will emerge. In the meantime, placing bets on any particular company risks seeing its primary products being made obsolete in the fast-evolving race for AM excellence.

For now, one easy way to stay casually abreast of the sector’s investment action is to set up an ambitious price alert on your favorite brokerage platform for 3D Printing ETF (PRNT), which offers an easy way to make one investment and own shares in all of the leading AM companies.

Once your price alert is triggered, you can begin paying closer attention and might consider placing a modest bet, looking for a breakout from the long period of quiet consolidation you can see in the chart below.

For the record, I just set an alert at $26, which would be a decisive break through PRNT’s 250-day moving average. Should that level be topped, I’ll begin paying closer attention.

Concluding Thoughts

In the beginning, largely because of how little one hears about additive manufacturing these days, I assumed it was being used only on the margins of industry.

Now, however, I understand the technology is revolutionary. So much so that it’s quickly becoming integral to virtually every corner of the multitrillion-dollar manufacturing sector.

And that is only the beginning of the benefits that come from quickly and cheaply printing almost anything, anywhere, using some combination of hundreds of different materials. The new Edisons and DaVincis will have a 3D printer at hand.

Although the technology is not yet perfected, and the winners and losers remain largely undecided, I don’t think it will take long to reach a tipping point.

Once that point is crossed, 3D printing will become so ubiquitous that it will, in fact, be considered boring.