New Research & Consulting Service Provides Expert Insights into the AM Field — A Few Questions For: Additive Manufacturing Research

Additive manufacturing offers immense opportunity to those in a variety of fields and associated verticals; while this is becoming increasingly indisputable, questions often remain for companies seeking to enter the 3D scene. Furthermore, those already with a foot in the door can always benefit from more information; in a digital world, more than ever before, knowledge truly is power. Knowledge leaders at the forefront of the fray are seeing the benefits of insight, from well-timed acquisitions to invaluable additions of the latest technology and materials. A new offering in the field of research has just launched this week, as the aptly named Additive Manufacturing Research (AMR) now promises to provide “research services in the dynamic field of additive manufacturing.”

“Every month, clients receive a 5-page report from our expert analysts and every year a 20-page ‘wrap-up’ report for each selected practice. In addition every client receives unlimited consulting time with our research analysts,” AMR explains.

Featuring insights from experts well-versed in 3D technologies, AMR offers a specialized research focus in three primary areas:

• Metal Additive Manufacturing Market Research Service
• Polymer and Composite Additive Manufacturing Market Research Service
• Medical Additive Manufacturing Market Research Service

Lawrence Gasman

Co-founder Lawrence Gasman, who founded SmarTech Publishing, and lead analyst Scott Dunham are set to provide monthly reports filled with insights into these three areas of focus. AMR was additionally co-founded by Alan Meckler. The knowledge base provided from AMR is uniquely positioned with analysis from established voices in industry forecasting to provide incredible insight into three of the fastest-growing and highest-value markets in the additive field. Lawrence Gasman and Scott Dunham were kind enough to answer A Few Questions For me so we could all find out more about the background and mission of AMR – and what potential clients can expect from this all-new service offering.

Additive Manufacturing Research is set to contribute a new service to the AM field; how did this idea first come about? Can you fill us in on the background of this business?

Dunham:

The idea came about with a meeting of minds of Alan [Meckler], John [Meckler], Lawrence [Gasman], and Myself – although we had all worked together sort of indirectly over the past few years with SmarTech (Lawrence’s business for which I am heavily involved), we were first introduced directly by a mutual friend in the industry, Zach Simkin (who provides a very good complementary service through Senvol). Although the idea for AMR was not the goal of the original conversations, through a series of conversations regarding the industry, we came up with the idea based on an industry need that we did not think was being fulfilled. The idea is pretty simple – provide a constant outsourced consulting option with a very strong background in market research and business consulting directly related to additive manufacturing to help companies identify the opportunities as they continue to change with the technical and competitive development of the industry. SmarTech has been circling the idea for some time, but with AMR we are combining a focus on strategic, high value consulting at a team-level with the outreach of 3DR Holdings. This should help to connect the vibrancy of the market with all of its potential innovation with expertise that will help guide it to flourish for the benefit of all.

Gasman:

As you know this is a collaboration between my company SmarTech Publishing and the folks behind 3DPrint.com. We believe that there is a need for services that provide deep-dive analysis of key markets in the 3D printing/additive field and which identify and quantify opportunities in particular segments of the market. When Alan Meckler and I talked we quickly realized that combining the analytical capabilities of SmarTech Publishing and 3DPrint.com was a fit, combining the analytical talents of SmarTech Publishing with the huge [reach] of 3DPrint.com.

Leadership is a critical aspect to a new business; can you tell us about the backgrounds of your team, and how you first became interested in AM technologies?

Scott Dunham

Dunham:

First of all, Alan Meckler’s own history in developing consultancies needs little introduction. As for Lawrence, the same could be said for more classic market research expertise as well as a great technical knowledge of many of the interconnected technologies around printing, smart materials, and electronics which have ultimately brought the 3D printing industry to where it is today. As for myself, I’m so interested in the potential of 3D printing, I’ve published more than a dozen market studies on the topic in the past year alone. What I strive to bring to the industry is logic and structured approach to better quantifying opportunities in AM. If you believe those who say that GE making bids for two of the biggest players in metal AM is a sign of AM going ‘mainstream,’ then there can be no doubt that a mainstream manufacturing technology market requires a more structured and dynamic approach to research services to help build businesses.

Why did your team choose to launch this research and consulting service?

Gasman:

We chose to provide coverage of 3DP metals, plastics, and medical/healthcare applications first, since they are critical topics for both firms specifically in the 3DP space itself and end users. We plan to expand to other topics over the next year or so.

Dunham:

We have personally observed a need for accessible, on demand market research for AM, from a source that has credibility and is specialized. Of course SmarTech and our structured industry reports and corporate consulting services are part of that, but what AMR is able to offer fills a different niche, and is only made stronger through the connections we’ve built at both 3DR Holdings and SmarTech over the last five years.

What will be included under the umbrella of offerings for Additive Manufacturing Research?

Dunham:

We’ll be offering a subscription based research service aligned with specific disruptive coverage topics relevant to the development of the industry, in which clients have unlimited access to consulting services when they need them, but are also kept up to date with the latest timely analysis and market data for times when they have their heads down developing things internally.

Gasman:

We anticipate eventually covering additive manufacturing in aerospace, automotive, electronics, and so on.

What will set AMR apart as a unique offering in this field?

Gasman:

There are a few other firms providing basic forecasts of the 3DP market, but our analysts are the only industry analysts who are real insiders to the 3DP space and living the industry every day.

Dunham:

To sum up: 1) On demand access to consulting from a source that is credible in the industry. Need a perspective on how competition between Electron Beam Melting and Direct Metal Laser Sintering might affect the market for orthopedic implants over the next decade? We can offer our input, and have the quantifying data to back it up. 2) We have a wealth of connections in the industry that span both 3DR Holdings – which hosts conferences, and has huge media reach specialized to AM, and also SmarTech, who is well connected to end users of AM and has developed the only series of structured market forecast models that have been built to accommodate a fast paced market where things change fast and they often change in a big way seemingly all at once.

What can a company expect from the experience of working with AMR?

Gasman:

Timely analysis, lots of forecasts and company profiles, opportunity spotting.

Dunham:

We want to be an outsourced member of your own business development and product team. For our clients, It’s as easy as calling us on the phone to help validate a key assumption, or quantify your own internal projections or targets.

How do you see AMR growing and adding value to the AM field over its first year? Next five years?

Dunham:

We definitely see some immediate need that we hope to fill, but as we’ve seen with SmarTech, five years ago the attitude towards external market research in this industry was vastly different than it is today, and its certainly still evolving in that regard. Big corporations’ needs will vary significantly from that of the dynamic startup with a potentially disruptive new application. We are very well equipped to offer something to both of those stakeholders, and over the next year to five years we expect to help develop a lot of good ideas from both sides.

By bringing together established and skilled analysts and organizations in place, Additive Manufacturing Research is indeed uniquely placed to get an over-arching view of many aspects of the additive industry. Offerings from the company hold great promise for those seeking information services, and the span of provided intelligence is only set to increase — as with much of this growing industry, there’s certainly a lot to look forward to here, and 3DPrint.com looks forward to keeping abreast of the latest from AMR! Discuss further in the AMR Additive Manufacturing Research forum over at 3DPB.com.

(Disclosure: Additive Manufacturing Research is owned in part by 3DPrint.com’s parent company, 3DR Holdings)