Ahead of the next edition of the Inside 3D Printing expo series, which takes place in Shanghai next month (November 4–5), 3DPI caught up with one of the speakers on the conference programme, Wim Michiels of Materialise. Wim is Managing Director of Materialise Malaysia and part of his remit is bringing the company’s impressive track record of innovation using Additive Manufacturing to the Asia Pacific region and to help as many people as possible benefit from the use of them.
3DPI: How significant do you believe the Chinese market is to the global 3D printing industry?
Wim Michiels: The main numbers can be found in industry reports like the Wohlers Report. It reports mostly on the numbers of machines in China, which is a reflexion of the significance of the market. If you dig a bit deeper, you find that the actual usage of the technology in China is behind compared to many other places, and the kind of applications and quality of parts is still limited. In recent years however, we see that China is catching up very quickly, a move strongly backed by the Chinese government which is stimulating the development of the 3D printing industry. We also see a strongly growing number of machine manufacturers in China, increasingly developing good quality machines and aiming for a position in the global industry.
3DPI: How has business (for Materialise) developed in China compared with the US and Europe?
Wim Michiels: The last few years, Materialise has been very active in China, with initiatives like the Shanghai MGX gallery which have had a big impact on the 3D printing community in China. Our growth in China is strong, which is closely related to the activities as mentioned above: the industry is catching up. We see on the one hand more and more companies getting seriously into 3D printing and using our software for that purpose. The strong growth in machine manufacturers, combined with their drive to make good quality machines, also leads to a demand for collaboration with Materialise with regards to machine related software.
3DPI: What will you be talking about to the Inside 3D Printing audience in Shanghai?
Wim Michiels: 3D printing applications will be most successful if they combine a number of drivers that make 3D printing valuable. These drivers are mostly known: making great ideas possible, reducing costs, reducing carbon footprint and last but not least, enabling customization. Those 3D printing applications that have succeeded over the years to take a leading position, typically require a rather complicated ecosystem to make it work. It’s one thing to make 1 part successfully, but it’s quite another thing to do this for higher volumes of parts. The core of such ecosystem, without exception, is a strong software backbone. I will explain this and give some examples.
3DPI: What are you most looking forward to at Inside 3D Printing in China next month?
Wim Michiels: Well, we have been around for many years in China and have many “friends” in the industry. It will be nice to meet each other and discuss the progress of the industry. Also, things are evolving so fast in China, and it will be great to get a glimpse of the current state of the Chinese 3D printing industry.
For anyone planning to attend the Shanghai edition of the Inside 3D Printing event, more information, including the full speaker line up, can be found here, and registration can be completed here.
