New announcements from 3D Systems and EOS, PLUS growth trends, adoption issues, and other insights from the Industry Stage.
Welcome to Day 1 of my remote coverage of this year’s Formnext.
Let’s kick things off with a few of the latest announcements from two of the biggest players in the industry.
New SLA machines, materials, and software from 3D Systems
Topping the bill for 3D Systems at Formnext 2025 is the SLA 825 Dual, with a build volume of 830 x 830 x 550 mm, dual lasers, and other productivity enhancements designed with automotive, aerospace, and service bureau applications in mind. According to the company, it’s also been designed to be upgradeable “for future technology innovations” and is available for immediate ordering, with shipments planned before the end of this year.
3D Systems also announced a new software tool called ArrayCast that’s intended to make it easier for engineers to create customized casting trees, including configurable runners, sprues, and end effectors. The company says ArrayCast can deliver 10x faster production cycles by digitally assembling casting trees prior to printing and reduces manual labor by as much as 20x by eliminating the need for hand gluing and wax welding. ArrayCast is immediately available as an add-on via 3D Sprint.
On the materials side, 3D Systems is introducing Accura SbF for investment casting and showcasing Accura Xtreme Black resin, which it compares to ABS. “These next-generation additions to our Stereolithography portfolio will help catalyze our customers’ innovation,” said Marty Johnson, vice president of product and technical fellow for 3D Systems in a press release. “These technologies that include our new SLA printing platform and new build style for our QuickCast offering enhance our industry-leading solutions for polymer printing.”
EOS bets big on L-PBF
Targeting “industrial scale” applications, EOS has introduced a new, large-format laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) system, the M4 ONYX. Designed for energy, defense, aerospace, and semiconductor applications, the new system features a 450 x 450 x 400 mm build volume, six 400 W lasers, and boasts more than 90% powder material recovery. The system also comes in a variant, the M4 ONYX FLX with four 1kW beam-shaping lasers. EOS claims the new machines deliver up to 97% overall equipment effectiveness with full-service contracts and support job changeovers in under 30 minutes via the Grenzebach Dual Setup Station.
“This optimized system was only made possible by the dedication and expertise of our global team, whose relentless pursuit of AM excellence continues to set new standards for the industry,” said Marie Langer, EOS CEO in a press release. “Together, we are shaping the future of metal 3D printing productivity and responsible manufacturing…”
The M4 ONYX will be commercially available in Q1 2026 with the M4 ONYX FLX variant following in Q3.
From the Industry Stage
“I think we’re still facing the same challenges we did 10 years ago. If I go to a supplier and ask, ‘Can you print me this part out of stainless steel?’ Every time they ask, ‘Okay, why should we print it? What is it for? What is the application? How do we want to qualify it?’ So every time it develops into a small research project.”
Arvid Eirich, head of AM, Deutsche Bahn AG
As the saying goes: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It’s been ten years since the first Formnext, and yet many of the conversations you’ll hear on the show floor today are strikingly similar to the ones you would have heard a decade ago. At least, that certainly seems to be the case from my second year of covering it remotely. Watching the Industry Stage on its YouTube livestream through a haze of virtual jetlag, I can’t help but notice the repetition in many of the topics that came up during the morning presentations.
Terry Wohlers did his usual schtick, emphasizing the additive manufacturing (AM) industry’s growth—18% year-over-year for the past decade—to a respectable $22 billion today (though that’s still a tiny fraction of manufacturing’s multi-trillion-dollar footprint).
He also gave credit to China for its AM growth, highlighting the 1.5 million foldable hinges for mobile phones 3D printed in 2023, as well as the fact that four Chinese AM companies have grown from zero to more than $200M in revenue in just a few short years. Of particular note is Bambu Lab, which Wohlers said has the highest revenue in the world, despite being only five years old.
Doubling down on the theme of looking back to Formnext’s beginnings, Stefanie Brickwede, managing director at Deutsche Bahn took the stage to talk about her initial excitement upon learning about 3D printing technology and how it was quickly curtailed by financial concerns from the C-suite. As she tells it, it took a bottom-up approach to drive early adoption at DB AG.
“We shouted into the company and said, ‘We’re going to start with additive manufacturing. Who really wants to join us? No matter which hierarchy level, no matter what you’re doing, just contact us, and then you’re in,” she recalled. “Now, 10 years later, we have printed more than 200,000 parts.” It’s exactly the sort of grass-roots enthusiasm (despite underwhelming production volumes) that drove so much of the early hype around AM.
On that note, there was also the usual healthy dose of AM cynicism that’s grown up over the past decade, counterbalancing the optimism still embraced by many of the presenters on stage. Last year, it was supplied by 3Dprint.com’s Joris Peels. This year it came from 3D Printing Industry’s Michael Petch. (Can it be my turn next year?) “I’ve been coming here personally since 2016,” Petch said. “I still hear the same language. I still hear ‘It’s all about the application!’ We’ve been talking about that for a while. Progress is glacial. It’s not a problem. Well, it is if you run out of capital.”
Balancing the hype with the reality has always been an issue for 3D printing. It’s the nature of the technology. The AM industry is still fighting that battle on multiple fronts: education, standardization, even interoperability. Wohlers, to his credit, captured the issue in referencing a quote from Bill Gates: “Most people overestimate what they can do in a year, and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
Whether 3D printing embodies this sentiment or not depends on whom you ask but, in the context of the AM industry and ten years of Formnext, I’d say his timeframe might be off by an order of magnitude.
Stay tuned for more Formnext 2025 coverage this week.
