Stratasys takes top spot in AM competitive assessment

ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm, has ranked Stratasys as the top additive manufacturing (AM) vendor, closely followed by 3D Systems, Desktop Metal and GE Additive. Newcomer Desktop Metal took the overall top spot in innovation.

The Additive Manufacturing Platform Ranking competitive assessment ranked 10 major vendors of the technology — 3D Systems, Carbon, Desktop Metal, Digital Alloys, EOS, ExOne, GE Additive, HP, Renishaw and Stratasys — using ABI Research’s innovation/implementation criteria framework. Each vendor was analysed based on a combination of AM technology process, material science, software, process and application adaptability, GTM, revenue and bookings, availability, customer references, partnerships, cost and channel strategy.

To qualify as an additive manufacturing platform vendor, the company had to have a production additive manufacturing solution on the market, be targeting production AM as its main opportunity or be working with promising metal alloy AM technologies and techniques that could, in ABI Research’s view, prove a strong fit for the production AM market. These platforms will produce more than US$360 billion worth of parts and end products each year and nearly US$2 trillion in sum by the end of the next decade.

Stratasys scored highest in implementation, followed by 3D Systems, EOS, Desktop Metal and GE Additive. “Stratasys, 3D Systems and EOS are the market incumbents — all have been involved in AM since their inception,” said Ryan Martin, Principal Analyst at ABI Research. “3D Systems went neck and neck with Stratasys in all categories, except partnerships, where it was edged out by Stratasys due to Stratasys’s investment in Desktop Metal, collaboration with companies like Siemens and work with its own global manufacturing network, which companies like UPS use to automatically invoke AM rather than traditional manufacturing processes based on order volume requests.”

Desktop Metal was the surprise frontrunner among companies to more recently enter the AM arena, edging out incumbents like GE Additive and EOS on the powder-bed side and dusting ExOne and HP in terms of performance on binder jetting. “Desktop Metal was the technology category leader but could be challenged in the long run if GE Additive and others can cultivate a credible metal binder jetting solution. Others to watch are Carbon, which recently launched its L1 production system, and Digital Alloys, which has a savvy GTM strategy that aligns well with the strength of its Joule Printing technology,” Martin said.

“Desktop Metal took the top spot for innovation due to the applicability of its core technology and the capabilities of its production system relative to others in its category; Desktop Metal is the binder jetting technology category leader, and binder jetting as a technology blows PBF out of the water when it comes to the scale of true production applications. Carbon and GE Additive tied for second and were only 2.5% behind Desktop Metal. Digital Alloys was the surprise fast follower to the runner-up position. Digital Alloys has a technology that could displace if not converge with the DED category (where companies like Sciaky play) due to the speed, quality and affordability of Joule printing,” Martin concluded.

The findings are from ABI Research’s Additive Manufacturing Platforms competitive assessment report.