This report focuses on production applications for additive manufacturing in the automotive industry spanning from motorsports and luxury cars to mass-produced vehicles. Production AM applications considered in this report include both additive manufacturing for indirect production (for tools, jigs, fixtures, molds and dies) and for the direct digital production of spare, mass-customized and serial final parts. Forecasts focus exclusively on industrial-grade additive manufacturing hardware systems and materials, for end-use part production applications.
This report assesses the overall opportunity for additive manufacturing in the automotive industry, including upcoming metal and polymer processes and materials that are going to gain wider adoption during the 10-year forecast period. These include leading polymer as well as new high-throughput metal and polymer AM technologies such as digital light synthesis from Carbon, multijet fusion from HP, as well as new bound metal filament and upcoming metal binder jetting processes. For the first time, these are listed as separate segments in all hardware forecasts.
The report also provides a deep analysis of the types of tools and final parts produced by AM. These are further broken down into specific applications and part-specific forecasts. AM parts are then also analyzed in terms of suppliers, with forecasts segmented into three main types of AM parts suppliers: large automakers (internal production), specialized automotive parts suppliers (tier 1 and tier 2) that have introduced AM in their workflows, and AM service providers (application-agnostic) catering to the automotive segment.
In addition, for the first time in this edition, the analyst presents an unprecedented country-specific analysis and forecasts of the automotive AM market's geographic distribution for hardware and materials revenues and demand. From the analysis and data, it emerges that Europe currently holds has a lead in metal AM while the US leads in polymer AM, while Asia is expected to emerge as the largest area for both materials segments by the end of the forecast period.
Finally, the analyst is presenting profiles of every major automaker, detailing their strategy in automotive AM and mapping all their publicly released activities in AM to date. Volkswagen Group emerges as the company that has made some of the most significant investments in this field, preceding other large German automakers such as BMW and Daimler Benz. Ford, FCA, and PSA are also expected to invest significantly and carry out several production initiatives. In Asia, much of the 3D printing activities in automotive are expected to be carried out by external AM service providers.
The analyst is also providing an analysis of the AM strategy by each major AM hardware manufacturer toward integrating their respective technologies into an end-to-end, fully automated production workflows which can cater to the automotive industry's high-productivity requirements.
Key Topics Covered:
Chapter One: Automotive Final Part Production
1.1 Pinpointing the Inflection Point for AM Adoption in Automotive Production
1.1.1 How and Why the Automotive Industry Will Adopt AM for Part Production
1.1.2 Follow the Money
1.2 Leading Automakers' Investments in AM for Production
1.3 The Global Automotive Production Landscape and How it Relates to AM
1.3.1 How Automotive AM is Evolving
1.3.1.1 What's New in this Report?
1.3.1.2 Which Automotive Parts are we Considering in this Report?
1.4 The Global Automotive AM Market Today
1.5 How Powertrain Electrification, Autonomous Driving, and Ride Sharing will Impact Automotive Production and AM
1.5.1 Electrification's Impact on Automakers and Suppliers
1.5.1.1 Fuel Economy, Electric Mobility and AM
1.5.1.2 What this Means for AM Adopters and AM Service Providers
1.5.2 Autonomous Driving's Impact on Automakers and Suppliers
1.5.2.1 How This Affects Additive Manufacturing
1.5.3 Mass Reduction Trends
1.6 Geographic Considerations for Automotive AM Applications
1.6.1 Notes on 3D Printing Auto Parts in China
1.6.2 Country-specific Forecasts for the Global Automotive AM Market
1.7 The Drive for More AM Automation and Networking
1.7.1 Automating the Direct AM End-to-end Process
1.7.2 Indirect Production Workflows Integrating AM Processes as a Key Intermediate Step
1.7.2.1 Immediate Benefits of 3D Printing Molds and Casts
1.8 Primary Additive Manufacturing Application Segments in Automotive
1.9 Forecasting in this Report
1.9.1 Discussion of Methodology
1.9.2 Important Methodology Changes vs. Previous Studies
Chapter Two: The Evolutionary Trends for AM Hardware and Materials in Automotive
2.1 Key AM Technologies for Automotive
2.1.1 Recent Evolution of AM Technologies Used in Automotive Production
2.1.1.1 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Material Extrusion (ME) for Automotive AM
2.1.1.2 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Metal and Sand Binder Jetting (BJ) for Automotive AM
2.1.1.3 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Bound Metal Deposition (BMD) for Automotive AM
2.1.1.4 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Material Jetting (MJ) for Automotive AM
2.1.1.5 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Vat Photopolymerization (PP) for Automotive AM
2.1.1.6 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Layerless Photopolymerization (PP) for Automotive AM
2.1.1.7 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (Laser PBF) for Automotive AM
2.1.1.8 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Infrared Powder Bed Fusion (Infrared PBF) for Automotive AM
2.1.1.9 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Metal Powder Bed Fusion (Metal PBF) for Automotive AM
2.1.1.10 Recent Evolutionary Trends in Metal Directed Energy Deposition (DED) for Automotive AM
2.2 Ten-year Forecast for AM Hardware Demand and Revenues in Automotive
2.3 Geographic Distribution of AM Hardware Demand and Revenues in Automotive
2.3.1 Geographic Distribution of Metal AM Hardware
2.3.2 Geographic Distribution of Polymer AM Hardware
Chapter Three: Evolutionary Trends for AM Materials in Automotive
3.1 Key Evolutions in Polymers for Automotive AM
3.2 Key Evolutions in Metals for Automotive AM
3.3 Other Relevant Materials for Automotive AM
3.3.1 Long-term Ceramics AM Opportunities
3.3.2 Additive Manufacture of Composites for Automobiles Making Strides
3.3.2.1 Continuous vs. Chopped Fiber Composites in AM
3.4 Ten-year Forecast for Demand and Revenues of AM Materials in Automotive
3.4.1 Extrusion Materials in Automotive AM
3.4.2 Photopolymer Materials in Automotive AM
3.4.3 Thermoplastic Powder Materials in Automotive AM
3.4.4 Metal Powder Materials in Automotive AM
3.4.5 Geographic Distribution of Materials Demand and Revenues in Automotive Additive Manufacturing
3.4.6 Geographic Distribution of Polymer Demand and Revenues in Automotive AM
3.4.7 Geographic Distribution of Metal Demand and Revenues in Automotive AM
Chapter Four: Automotive AM Tools and Final Parts
4.1 AM for Tools in Automotive
4.1.1 Types of AM Tools Considered in This Report
4.1.1.1 3D Printing for Composite Tooling
4.1.2 Ten-year Forecast of Polymer AM Tools Demand and Revenues for Automotive
4.1.3 Ten-year Forecast of Metal AM Tools Demand and Revenues for Automotive
4.2 Direct Production of Additively Manufactured Final Parts
4.2.1 Types of Final Parts Produced by AM in Automotive
4.2.2 Ten-year Forecast of Polymer AM Final Parts Demand and Revenues for Automotive
4.2.3 Ten-year Forecast of Metal AM Final Parts Demand and Revenues for Automotive
Chapter Five: The New Automotive Supply Chain and the Evolving Roles of OEMs, Automotive Suppliers, and AM Service Providers
5.1 Internal Production, Automotive Parts Suppliers and AM Service Providers
5.2 How AM Automation and AM Software Fit into the Equation for Production of AM Parts
5.3 Searching for Increased AM Automation in Automotive Part Production
5.3.1 Automating AM Processes for Automotive Production
5.3.1.1 Automating Material Extrusion Processes
5.3.1.2 Automating Polymer Powder Bed Fusion Processes
5.3.1.3 Automating Metal Powder Bed Fusion Processes
5.3.1.4 Automating Metal Deposition Processes
5.3.1.5 Automating Photopolymerization Processes
5.3.1.6 Automating Binder Jetting Processes
5.3.2 Automated AM Factory Concepts and How they Apply to Automotive Additive Manufacturing
5.3.2.1 Metal Powder Bed Fusion Factories
5.3.2.2 Metal and Sand Binder Jetting Factories
5.3.2.3 Polymer Additive Manufacturing Factories
5.3.2.4 Number of AM Sites Evolving Toward AM Factory Capabilities
5.4 Internal Production vs. Automotive Suppliers vs. AM Service Providers
5.5 Automotive Internal Production AM Revenues
5.6 AM Service Providers Revenues in Automotive
5.7 Automotive Suppliers' AM Revenues
Chapter Six: Additive Manufacturing Production Profiles for Key Automakers
