strategy

If we look at our past, we can see how making custom machines, incessantly watching ourselves, and our inability to rescope shaped our industry. We have also looked at the…

A friend of mine, Ed Davis, once pointed out the level of strategic replication in additive. I wasn’t aware of it before and haven’t been able to unsee it since….

When we previously looked at the Additive Chicken Coop, we saw how selling devices to labs shaped a lot of our industry. Here, we explore other key factors that have…

After decades of tinkering with our individual technologies, billions were poured into speculative claims and optimism. Now the attention is gone, and sometimes it can seem like we’re surrounded by…

Apple’s Apple Watch implementation is a shining example of additive manufacturing at scale. Apple now makes two watch cases and a port using additive. Now Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has stated that,…

Remember when we used to talk a lot about democratizing design and manufacturing? We did do that to a certain extent; you can upload files to Shapeways, Endeavor3D, Protolabs, and…

We’ve looked at making it easier for people to give us money, and we’ve also explored starting a fast follower business and seeking success in owning a particular application. Another…

The paths to success in additive may appear limited, but this is only because of so much strategic replication and so many copycat businesses. One potentially lucrative path to additive…

A lot of companies have a plan, an idea, some semi-coherent tale, or maybe even an outline of a business. They have a deck of PowerPoints they once sold to…

If you had started 30 years ago, you could have become a major original equipment manufacturer (OEM). And if you entered six years ago, with $50 million, your current course…

In this series, we’ve looked at how we came to be deluded and how binder jet technology could grow. We’ve explored the players in the industry and where binder jet…

“From sand to customer” was originally the business philosophy of Philips. The Dutch electronics firm was a pioneer in lightbulbs and later leveraged its expertise into X-ray tubes, radios, shavers,…

How can you beat Garry Kasparov? With a baseball bat. If you ask yourself the question, “How can I beat Garry Kasparov,” and silently add the fragment “at chess” in…

If I were Josef Průša, I’d probably gloat and be insufferable. Honestly, though, it’s a question that has vexed me. Josef asked on LinkedIn whether people would like to see…

“3D printing” used to symbolize innovation and a promising manufacturing future—but not so much anymore. However, many governments are now striving to revive local manufacturing and bolster industrial bases. At…

Additive Manufacturing Strategies (AMS) in New York City is my favorite AM industry event. Now, I work for the company that puts on the show, so I’m sure I would…

Hans-Alfred Breuninger, with a background as a strategy consultant, has specialized in 3D printing after many years in his initial field. He has collaborated with leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)…

I’m grateful for the extensive feedback and thoughtful discussion that emerged from my earlier article, “RIP 3D Printing: 1987 – 2023, Complexity is Expensive.” The strong response has prompted me…

Although countries like the US, Germany, and China have extensively adopted additive manufacturing (AM), India has been slower to do so. Nonetheless, the potential of AM to propel socio-economic growth…

As if to deliberately draw attention to the fact that we are in a new Cold War era, the Chinese government has formally announced that it, like the US, will…

We lack a complete and thorough understanding of the Additive market. Often essential, important or very profitable applications, procedures or knowledge is not shared. This means that the true extent,…

We’ve got a rather peculiar problem in Additive. I call this the tip of the iceberg problem and it stems from seven distinct factors. The high degree of strategic replication…

Previously, we’ve seen how I anticipate that the 3D printing industry will split into multiple islands of competitiveness. In a more specific, fragmented market, companies will fight heavily in their…

If we look at many of the firms working in 3D printing, we can see that they are spending an awful lot of time and money on rounding and fleshing…