If we’re inclined to organize our thoughts about history into decades for reasons other than the fact that we use a base-10 number system, it’s because in so many contexts, ten years is enough time to allow us to step back and observe meaningful change.It took the Greeks ten years to defeat the Trojans and, once they did, another ten years for Odysseus to get back to Ithaca.Those stories might be made up, but they ring true in no small part because the concept of a decade resonates as a universal milestone.
To use an example more directly relevant to our own era — the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale — deep tech technologies typically take 1-2 decades to advance from TRL 1 through TRL 9.This example starts to get at what’s so exciting about Additive Manufacturing Strategies (AMS) X: it’s the perfect turning point between one era of the AM industry and another.Scott Dunham during the AMS 2026 Market Data Outlook presentation.
Image courtesy of 3DPrint.com.While the event itself (February 23-25, 2027) is about the future and not the past, ten years still needs to be celebrated.As we look forward towards next February, it’s worth reflecting on how far AMS and 3D printing have come since 2018, as both the event and the industry have grown up, side-by-side.
So I picked a handful of articles that I think really capture that sentiment.This is a good time to remind everyone that 3DPrint.com and AMS (and Additive Manufacturing Research) are all part of the same family.It’s also as good a time as any for you to set a reminder to register before October 28! That’s the next cut-off date before the price goes up.
The Industry Loses Interest in Desktop, Then Falls Back in Love With It The AM industry’s ambivalence to, and subsequent renewed appreciation for, what desktop machines can do is surely among the most impactful themes shaping the industry over the last ten years.As should come as no surprise, there’s no one who’s done a better job covering this trajectory in its entirety than Joris Peels.In 2018, the AM industry had become more or less dismissive of the thought that desktop 3D printers had a serious part to play in the industrial side of the business.
In 2026, the thought that desktop printers don’t have a part to play in the AM industry couldn’t be taken seriously.Of all the changes that have taken place in since the first AMS, this may be the most surprising.More than any other company, Bambu Lab has played a central role in this story, and Joris was very early in seeing how Bambu was reshaping the AM industry: Bambu 3D Printer Killers: Pandamonium (or the Desktop 3D Printing Revolution After All) The Space Industry Is Exploding & More Dependent than Ever on 3D Printing As happens so frequently with emerging technologies, the space industry was one of the earliest adopters of AM.
It was already clear in 2018 how crucial space customers were to the AM industry; on the other hand, the commercial space industry itself was still very much just getting started.Fast forward to 2026, a year when the biggest IPO of all time took place, and the company that went public is both a launch provider and metal AM power user.Meanwhile, the space industry is worth well over $600 billion, and projections suggest it could reach nearly $2 trillion by 2035.
Vanesa M.Listek has kept the industry updated on the AM business case for space all throughout the 2020s, and she has a remarkable track record for noticing the companies and trends that matter.For instance, check out this article Vanesa wrote in February, 2022, about a dozen AM users in the space industry that were included in a $300 million NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration contract: 12 Companies Launched by Space 3D Printing Under New NASA Contract Medical & AM Continue Their Intertwined Innovation Compared to all the other verticals that the AM industry prizes most highly, the story of the medical market over the last decade is something of an outlier.
Already by 2018, use of AM in the medical sector was relatively quite mature, meaning that the question to be answered wasn’t, “Is there a real business case for AM in medical?”, but rather, “Can the business case for AM in medical continue to grow?” Reflecting on the AM industry’s progress since 2018, the resounding answer is “Yes,” and few people have helped industry observers keep up with all the progress more than Sarah Saunders.She has a contagious (pun unashamedly intended) and genuine passion for the topic, something you can see for yourself if you’re sitting near her any time medical is the focus of discussion at AMS.This article that Sarah wrote in early 2022 — a time when the medical sector was at the forefront of everyone’s mind, both in the AM industry and outside it — provides an invaluable reference point for where the medical market’s AM adoption had evolved to by the middle of AMS’s lifetime heretofore, and the point where it has evolved from in the years since: 2022 Predictions: Medical 3D Printing Is Disrupting Healthcare The AM Industry’s Geographic Center Has Shifted Perhaps the other biggest change that has taken place over the last decade is the rise of Asia, and most namely China, to the AM industry’s forefront.
While this change may not be as surprising as the resurgence of desktop 3D printers, it’s very much related to it.But it’s not the whole story, and the change may have more to do with China’s increasing competence in large-format metal 3D printers.In 2018, people were largely of the opinion that China was competing in the metal AM space simply by churning out low-quality, cheap versions of Western machines and that it couldn’t keep up when it came to the high-value applications that Western companies were targeting.
In 2026, China is dominating the metal 3D printing market by achieving affordability without sacrificing quality, doing it at scale, and thereby attracting the attention of some of the West’s most indispensable corporations.Sangmin Lee, who operates AMPulse Online and contributes to 3DPrint.com, has been ahead of this shift from the start, encapsulated in this very prescient piece he wrote in 2023: The Asian Equation: AM Evolution Over Revolution The Defense Tech Boom Finally, no discussion of AM since 2018 could ignore the defense sector’s constantly accelerating adoption of 3D printing that has taken place during that timeframe.This pace is particularly astonishing in light of the fact that, in 2018, pretty much everything that the defense sector has started to put into action in 2026 (like expeditionary AM) was still essentially in the concept phase.
Moreover, that activity has been going on, alongside, and synchronized with, a broader boom in defense tech investment that continues to expand.I’ve covered the growing military adoption of AM both as a story that’s important in itself, and insofar as it’s a part of this larger context.The most interesting angle to it, perhaps, is the reinvigoration of organic military production capacity enabled by renewed attention to industrial policy and collaboration with a new breed of startups.
In the summer of 2023, I wrote a rundown of the trends that had been emerging over the previous year or so, which still feels pretty relevant three years later: U.S.Military Innovation Pushed to the Frontlines with Advanced Manufacturing Register So You Can Celebrate 10 Years of AMS With Us! We’ll be keeping you updated on what you can expect from AMS all the way up until February 23rd of next year.Don’t miss the opportunity to find out before everyone else what’s going to shape the next 10 years of the industry! Early registration is still available, including entrance to all seminars, all food functions, and the networking reception the first night of AMS X, for just $1,399.
But, this deal expires on Thursday, October 28th.So register now to save! This piece was originally seen in AMS: The Preprint. Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.Print Services Upload your 3D Models and get them printed quickly and efficiently.
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