3-D printing adds new dimension to startups

Entrepreneurs are hoping to create a gold mine out of the innovative technology, Shen Jingting reports fromHong Kong

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then surely a physical model is worth a thousand pictures. At the Hong Kong Spring Electronics Fair and ICT Expo held in mid-April, thousands of exhibitors busily tried to garner attention from an even larger group of international dealers. Amongthem, WanLi, chief executive officer of a Beijing-based 3-D printing startup, tried to do everything possible to help his company earn its first pot of gold.

On a table at his booth, the 32-year-old entrepreneur carefully arranged a 20-centimeter-tall human statue, a cartoon figure from the Despicable Me movie, a bucket and two delicate rings— all made of resin and created by his company’s 3-D printer.

Next to those items stood a cuboid machine wrapped in yellow, transparent plastic. It was easy for people to look through the plastic wall and see the hammer-shaped equipment inside and liquid resin underneath it.

Wan, a Tsinghua University graduate, said the strangelooking machine was a 3-D printer invented by his company. Wan co-founded Beijing Ten Dimensions Co Ltd with three other university alumni at the beginning of this year. The company is dedicated to developing and selling highresolution 3-D printing systems, at competitive prices, to small and medium-sized enterprises.

“For clients such as designers, a 3-D printer allows them to turn imagination into reality in a very short period,” Wan said. Also, compared with words or pictures, a solid product delivers the most information for a designer to send out.

Seeing a huge potential in China’s 3-D printing industry, Wan left the private manufacturingcompany where he was employed a year ago.

He is determined to create affordable industrial 3-D systems. Beijing Ten Dimensions sells professional-grade 3-D printers at $7,000 each, significantly lower than the global industry average of about $79,000.

The technology of 3-D printing, which originated in the 1980s intheUnited States, can form objects through the deposition of a material, usually layer upon layer, out of 3-D digital data. It is now most commonly used for modeling, prototyping, tooling and short-run production applications.

Chinese investors and institutions have shown strong interest in 3-D printing. The country’s 3-D printing sector has gained incredible momentum thanks to media exposure, strengthened public awareness and a favorable development environment promoted by the government and more experienced players.

Because of a natural connection with technology research and development, students and teachers at leading Chinese universities, including Tsinghua, Beihang University and Huazhong University of Sciences and Technology, are emerging as the first group to make serious businesses out of 3-D printing.

According to the China Securities Journal, the number of 3-D printing firms globally stands at about 100, and close to 40 are China-based. University professors, and increasingly graduates, are founders or core team members of many of the firms.

Traditional manufacturers, especially those located in southernChina, form the other group that makes up the 3-D printing industry.

Lai Weilian, director of Bondale Electronics Ltd, an electronics company in Huizhou, Guangdong province, said his company has started producing smaller desktop 3-D printers for schools.

The industry usually divides 3-D printers into two categories: industrial systems and personal systems. Most of the personal, or desktop, 3-D printers worldwide are priced below $5,000, and Lai’s machines cost even less, at no more than $1,000 per unit.

“Schools buy our systems to demonstrate to students, inspiring the youth to trymore innovative things,” said Lai. The personal 3-D printer market has a much lower threshold for newcomers as it is built on the RepRap open-source platform, similar to the mobile phone industry’s Android platform, which permits players to share code.

Chinese companies and individuals have thronged to the 3-D printing field with the belief that it is the next “big thing”, similar to the development of the semiconductor, computer and the Internet. In addition, the area is very new, meaning there is less competition and that whoever moves fast can gain an upper hand over rivals.

The market for 3-D printing in 2012, consisting of all products and services globally, grew 28.6 percent year-on-year to $2.2 billion, according to a report byWohlersAssociates, a consulting firm that specializes in 3-Dprinting research.

The industry is expected to continue strong double-digit growth over the next fewyears. By 2017, Wohlers Associates believes that the sale of 3-D printing products and services will approach $6 billion worldwide. By 2021, the industry is forecast to reach $10.8 billion.

As a country with the biggest population and that manufactures the lion’s share of the world’s products, China may have the potential to become the world’s top 3-D printing market, said Luo Jun, secretary-general of the China 3D Printing Industry Alliance.

The growth rate of China’s 3-D printing sector is likely to be much higher than the global average and will probably hit 100 percent compound GLOBAL REVENUE OF THE 3D PRINTING INDUSTRY MARKET SHARE OF 3D PRINTING EQUIPMENT annualized growth years, said Luo.

The inspiring performance of the world’s two leading 3-D printing companies — Stratasys and 3-D Systems — also has motivated Chinese participants. The two US-based companies both achieved an annualcompoundgrowth rate of more than 20 percent in recent years. As of June 2013, Stratasys reportedly had more than 8,000 customers globally and had shipped a total of 32,245 systems worldwide.

The promising prospects also have prompted mergers and acquisitions in the global 3-D printing sector. The Rock Hill, South Carolina-based 3D systems purchased 33 companies from August 2009 toMay 2013, covering a wide range of industry offerings that includes materials, systems, software and digital content.

The world’s 3-D printing market is expected to accelerate its expansion pace. It took the industry 20 years to reach $1 billion. After five more years, the industry generated its second $1 billion. And it is expected to double again, to $4 billion, in 2015, said the Wohlers Report.

Technology improvement has allowed 3-D printing players to explore more new fields. The jewelry industry makes some of the smallest, most precise metal castings on the basis of 3-Dprinting. And real estate companies have created property models to show customers and even expect to build residences based on 3-Dprinting.

With the exception of Japan, the growth of 3-D printing in Asia started much later than in the US and Europe. China began experimenting with the technology in the late 1990s and has made several breakthroughs in some areas.

Wang Huaming, a professor atBeihangUniversitywhotook first place at the 2012 National Technological Innovation

in

five prize, based on his 3-Dprinting of large-scale titanium alloy components for aircraft.

The National Natural Science Foundation of China awarded a key program to TsinghuaUniversity to support research for applying 3-D cell printing to cancer research.

Several Chinese companies also have gained recognition in the global 3-D printing industry. Established in 2003, Beijing Tiertime Technology Co Ltd manufactures the UP! Desktop 3-D printers. The product was ranked by MAKE, an American bimonthly do-ityourself magazine, as the 3-D printer with “best overall experience” and “easiest setup”.

Beijing Tiertime claims to be Asia’s biggest 3-D printer manufacturer and the first Chinese company to sell 3-D printing machines overseas.

Another leading enterprise is Beijing Longyuan Automated Fabrication Systems Co Ltd, which offers systems that use thermoplastic materials, foundry sand and metal powder. The company targets customers in aeronautics, auto and healthcare. Its revenue reached 30 million yuan ($4.84 million) in 2012.

But the level of development ofChina’s 3-D printing sector is still low, and the global market share for Chinese systems is small. Less than 5 percent of the world’s 3-D printing systems were manufactured by Chinese producers in 2012, according to Wohlers Associates. US companies occupied 73 percent of the global market share, and European firms claimed about 10 percent.

SiuFung Chan, PwC’s China Consulting Partner, said he holds a neutral position toward China’s 3-D printing development. The country may need three to five years before its 3-D printing business really takes off or attracts more technology adopters, he said.

“First, the equipment cost has not come down to a very competitive level. High cost naturally inhibits a larger production scale,” said Chan.

Meanwhile, end users demand quality assurance for innovative 3-D printers. But neither the Chinese government nor other third-party organizations have issued standards for the printers’ qualifications, Chan pointed out. “If 3-Dprinting products are certified, the mass market is more likely to accept them.” Contact the writer at shenjingting@chinadaily.com.cn