Economic aspects of additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is becoming the main part of industries due to the fact that it has many advantages. Therefore, there are many industries that have already adopted additive manufacturing technologies, besides that, other companies are also considering integrating additive manufacturing technologies into their industries. It is believed that additive manufacturing is bringing our traditional industries to a new phase, and it is playing a major role in Industry 4.0. Additionally, additive manufacturing technologies are being improved to create more value and achieve higher adaptability for industries for some reasons, such as avoiding supply chain issues. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze additive manufacturing technologies and their role in different industries. In the first chapter of the thesis, additive manufacturing technologies have been introduced, including vat photopolymerization to directed energy deposition, and also step-by-step processes while working. Furthermore, which kind of materials are used in the processes has been introduced. Chapter two is mostly based on the economic perspective of 3D printers. From that chapter, it is possible to easily understand what kind of advantages additive manufacturing technologies have, besides the limitations that have been also analyzed. Additionally, in this chapter, different sectors have been studied also according to an economic perspective. The 3D printer market has been also studied in chapter three in more detail. In this chapter, some of the leading companies in additive manufacturing have been introduced also, and their expenses and revenues have been analyzed, such as Stratasys, 3D systems, and ExOne. Additionally, the chapter includes information about segments such as medical, aerospace, and transportation, also from e-commerce to 3D printer prices. Chapter four is mainly based on the role of additive manufacturing technologies in the automotive sector. This chapter provides information about the advantages of AM technologies in the automotive sector, and also the construction of automotive components depending on the material type and production processes. Furthermore, chapter four gives some information about the future and forecasts of AM in the automotive sector, besides that, the role of Artificial Intelligence(AI) has been studied. The last part of the thesis, which is Chapter five, is a case study, studying one of the leading 3D printer manufacturing companies, Stratasys, Ltd. In this chapter, the background of the company, including its history and products, has been studied, and also external and internal analyses have been examined. For external analysis, Porter’s five forces and for internal analysis, SWOT have been studied.