3D Printing Market Analysis, Additive Manufacturing Applications in Aerospace and Case Study about Desktop Metal

The history of human beings is a period that people’s production is becoming more diverse and more efficient. In the early stone age, people worked hard to create simple tools one after another. With the development of technology, people started to use different kinds of machines to do production after the industrial revolution. The machines, which are designed to convert energy to work, have greatly changed the way people produce products. With the help of machines, the workers are liberated from heavy manual labor and people's material life has been greatly improved. In 1981, the first 3D printer was invented and then opened the prelude to the rapid development of 3D printing. The 3D printer in which material is joined and solidified under computer control to create a 3D object, is also called additive manufacturing. This is a totally new attempt. The traditional manufacturing machine is to produce by subtracting materials. In contrast, a 3D printer is to produce by adding materials. Nowadays, 3D printing is everywhere, in cars, in airplanes, in hospitals, in factories. It changes the way we manufacture, it brings new concepts to our minds, it makes our lives different. Maybe the 21st century is the century of 3D printing. This thesis mainly talks about additive manufacturing, there are 4 chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to AM, including history, technologies, process steps, materials, etc. The second chapter discussed 3D printing from a market perspective. The advantages and limitations of 3D printing were listed. We made a rough assessment of the market and introduced the popular metal 3D printing market. Based on the information we have, we have made inferences about market trends. Then we gave examples of the applications in different sectors. In the third chapter, we mainly focused on the aerospace sector. We analyzed the current status of AM in aerospace. We tried to analyze the future development of 3D printing in combination with the current hottest technology, such as AI, IoT, big data and blockchain. In the final chapter, I did a case study about a 3D printing company, Desktop Metal. I analyzed what kind of external environment Desktop Metal is in from a strategic point of view. I learned about the internal situation of Desktop Metal through SWOT and VRIO. Then I listed some business strategies that Desktop Metal has adopted. From this case study, we can analyze how Desktop Metal has grown rapidly from 2015. What did Desktop Metal do? What can we learn from Desktop Metal?