[MUSIC] So in this video, let's look at some numbers on the trends that we have heard about. We will look at the research from three consulting firms and they are Wohlers Associates, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Gardner. Now two of them focus on market growth. And the third focuses on how manufacturers are adopting 3D printing into their operations. Now, keep in mind that in many of these projections, there is a healthy optimism there, and we expect that these numbers get revised every year. For example, there was quite a bit of skepticism about the market for 3D printers in early to mid 2015 but the sales of 3D printers, particularly at the desktop price point have far exceeded expectations and the projections are very now optimistic for 2016 and for the next four years as well. [COUGH] Now one of the first things that I do when I'm looking at trend information is to analyze some search terms on the website which is trends.google.com. So this allows you to get a proxy measure of end user interest in the subject that you're researching about. So I put in two search terms. One is 3D printer and 3D printing and the search interest graph shows that the search activity around these two terms exploded just about after 2010. And, it reached a few peaks in the period 2013 to 2015. And a significant drop in the mid to later months of 2015. Now in 2016, there has been some resurgence of interest and if you also look at the stock prices of the big firms in the space. For example, if you look up 3D Systems or Stratasys, you'll find that their stocks have been quite badly hit in 2015 and they are now back up in 2016 with a few good sales numbers from these firms and some of the other numbers we'll see shortly in these research reports. So let's start with the numbers in the Wohlers Associates report in 2016. Now they are a very respected firm in this space and bring out an annual state of the industry report, which by the way is rather expensive so it's difficult to get access to it, but we have a few summary items or highlights from their report. According to their report, additive manufacturing, which is another term that industry people like to use for 3D printing, grew at about compound annual growth rate of 25.9% and the value was just over $5 billion in 2015 which is pretty significant. Another number that was pretty striking in 2015, which was not expected, was the number of desktop 3D printers which is printers under $5000 as classified in that report. And the numbers about 278,000 which was way more than earlier estimates by several firms. They also found a significant growth in what's called metal additive manufacturing or metal 3D printing, and of course in desktop 3D printers. Looking back a few years, the industry is over 30 years old. And the report points out that the compound annual growth rate for the industry is about 26.2%, which over a period of ten or 15 years is very significant. Now let's change tracks and look at two studies from Gardner. One is their popular the Hype cycle which indicates the diffusion of new technologies. The Hype cycle for 3D printing which was released in 2015 gives us some interesting perspectives on the growth of 3D printing in different areas. Now, the Hype cycle suggests that medical applications are widespread now as MOS customization is practical and very relevant as a use case for 3D printing. Well you have already heard the examples about hearing aids. We have now a common hip and knee replacements, dental implants, and of course braces as well. One example of braces which is very popular is the firm Invisalign, or rather the product Invisalign. Where over 80,000 implants are printed and shipped everyday, and these are all custom unique to the person. One of the topic of the braces, an interesting story of the college student who scanned his teeth and printed braces by himself at the fraction of the cost that Invisalign or some similar firms would charge. So this all of an example of a second order of disruption happening to disruptors in the market. So, an individual with the power to create and with the tools available on the desktop is now disrupting. A firm which was disrupting earlier encumbrance in the braces market, so that's an interesting example on the side. So let's get back to the Hype cycle now. Another trend to note is that the content creation or capture around 3D models has become better, cheaper, and more accessible. With easy to use software and easy to use scanners as well. Some experts believe that this might have been an important obstacle in the option of 3D printing. And along with the availability of service bureaus, such as 3D hubs and shape ways, we are now at a stage where there is significant adoption of 3D printing across different areas. And we'll see some more of that in the next report as well. They also found that specialized medical applications such as 3D bioprinting for research and development and for organ transplants are still about five to ten years out. And we will hear more about this from an expert in the field later in the course as well. One interesting statistic they point out around classroom, 3D printing says that they expect to reach maturity in over ten years. I'm not sure I agree with this forecast as we see significant push by public and private institutions to get 3D printing into the curriculum. Now there have been several reports of initiatives by governments in UK and China, among other countries to promote wide spreaded option, and some of these initiatives are looking at you know for example some reports last year the China was looking at a 3D printer in every year secondary school, we don't have conformation on that yet. [COUGH] Interestingly, when we talk about China, it turns out, the firm IDC predicts that China will overtake the US in terms of local printer shipments and perhaps the focus on schools might be one reason for increasing adoption of 3D printers in China. We have quite a few learners who are educators, and we would love to hear from them in the forums about this trend. Let's move on and review some of the findings from a survey done with 120 manufacturing professionals by PWC on how US manufacturers are adopting 3D printing into their operations, and how they expect the technology to play out in the future. Now PWC started out this array in 2014 so this is the result from their second annual survey. And this site, an interesting statistic again from IBC that global spending of printers reached about $11 billion in 2015 and they're forecasted to reach about $27 billion by 2019. Some of the interesting trends from their survey. Their survey results point out that more than two-thirds of US manufacturers are using 3D printing in some ways and mostly prototyping right now. But there is a good percentage also looking at final products compared to what they found two years back. Expectations are rather rising that 3D printing will soon be available for high volume production in the future. And this is again in a timeframe of about three to five years, but at the same time, at present, most of them still believe that it is suitable for low volume or for specialized products as well. An interesting segment of the market which is for after market and obsolete parts seems to attract a lot of attention and the survey results pointed that out as well. The trends again are about the same over the two years that they've seen. In the next three or five years, they're seeing over two-thirds of the manufacturers who will use 3D printing for all their obsolete parts, which is a little decreased from what they saw in 2014. Now finally, to close this discussion, let's look at the threads they identified in this survey. So the top two threats the respondents identified were the challenges due to supply chain restructuring and the threats due to intellectual property or threats to intellectual property rather. We will get an opportunity to discuss intellectual property in more detail with a lawyer who specializes in this area. Another interesting trend they see is a changed relationship with customers, which might force them to change the way they are, they do business. And this is pretty similar to what you heard from Professor Alec Trainflus in the first course where he talk about the trend that customers are now creators and in many cases, co-creators with the firm. And finally, they see a big concern around finding talent to explore this technology and which is where and opportunities for you to build expertise are possible. [MUSIC] [SOUND]
