Illuminated by the supermoon rising over Frankfurt tonight, the world’s premiere additive manufacturing companies are putting the final touches to one of the biggest events dedicated to 3D printing: Formnext 2016.
3DPI will be in Frankfurt all week to bring you the latest news about the 3D printing industry, and from what we’ve glimpsed this show is going to be one you don’t want to miss.
3D Printing “main” event
Minus a couple of notable exceptions, the big names in 3D printing are all out in force with 3D Systems, Stratasys, EOS, SLM Solutions, Fraunhofer, Concept Laser, Trumpf, Renishaw and EnvisionTEC presenting impressive booths.
However it is HP’s booth (if having constructed a mini-amphitheater still counts as a booth) that occupies a sizeable amount of Hall 3.1 at Messe Frankfurt.
Moving towards industrialization of additive
Industrialization and moving additive manufacturing to a production technology look set to be key themes this year. Visitors are unlikely to miss this point as they are greeted by an array of banners from GE, who although without a dedicated booth are co-exhibiting with Materialize. As hinted at on last week’s earnings call, GE are likely to be giving an update on their 3D printing pathway. Industrialization will also be in evident to visitors at the EOS and Siemens booths, both who have some novel and exciting demonstrations lined up, we’ll bring you more on this tomorrow.
Don’t miss these other companies
While the major names will be competing to outdo each with the scale of their marketing efforts, make sure you take time to visit some of the less familiar names at Formnext. On the North side of hall 3.1 there are an array of 3D printing companies who are categorised as start-ups, however readers of 3DPI are likely to be familiar with some names, including Nano Dimension and Sinterit. Also around the perimeter are a number of other very interesting companies well worth a visit.
3D Printing in Korea
And while German enterprises are of course a major presence here (and in the 3D printing industry in general of course), also present in large numbers are companies from the Korean 3D printing industry. The country is a significant force in the world of additive manufacturing, and from a whirlwind visit of the show floor tonight, several of the enterprises present have brought some very interesting technology to Germany with them.
The next 4 days will be full of news about the 3D printing industry and even with the show yet to open, today has seen a deluge of press releases. Check out our summary here to catch up with the most recent of these.
And of course, if you want to make sure you keep upto date with all the news at Formnext 2016, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter here, and also follow us on twitter here.
For now, tschüss!
Featured image shows GE posters at Formnext 2016. Photo by Michael Petch.
