Metal Additive Manufacturing and Firearms—An Intersecting Opportunity

In a continued mission to move metal additive manufacturing technologies further into the global manufacturing community, the concurrent efforts to develop new applications while refining processes have brought metal AM into exciting new possibilities beyond the early adopter markets of aerospace and orthopedics. A myriad of economic, political, and technical factors may be forming to create a new significant market for several metal AM technologies in a global industry worth an estimated $11B in the U.S. alone—firearms.

Aircraft, Spacecraft and Drones: The Future of Industrial Production Takes Off with Additive Manufacturing

Of all the industrial sectors that are bound to benefit from the transition to additive manufacturing production, the aerospace industry is where the most significant revenue opportunities are arising and will continue to arise in the foreseeable future. SmarTech Publishing provides an in-depth analysis of the specific opportunities in major aerospace segments in three new reports which focus on civil aviation, space-borne parts and UAVs (drones).

The combined, overall revenue opportunity for AM hardware, software, materials, services and parts in these three booming industry segments is expected to grow to over $20 billion by 2027. This conclusion is in line with overall expectations for the AM industry, which sees AM representing between 1% and 2% of the $12 trillion manufacturing industry by 2030.