Our team once covered a series of 3D priting stories in Taiwan, featured in metal 3D printing, procelain 3D printing, medical and full-color 3D printing, etc. Taiwan’s 3D printing industry is indeed playing an increasingly important role in the world.
Now, they are taking a step further in expanding their influence in terms of the booming industry. A 3D printing alliance was formed in Taiwan on September 19 to explore the emerging technology and stake a larger share of the global market, the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute, known as ITRI said that day.
Incorporated Organizations
This alliance contains several local 3D- related technology development groups, such as the Additive Manufacturing Association of Taiwan, the Taiwan Mold & Die Industry Association and the Chinese Industrial Designers Association, to cover the upstream, midstream and downstream segments of the arena.
According to ITRI, the alliance is expected to bring the technology to a wider range of applications, such musical instrument production, auto parts manufacturing, artificial limb development and lighting device production, to seize the growing business opportunities.
Aiming For Larger Global Market
Citing an estimate by U.S.-based advisory firm Wohlers Associates Inc., the ITRI said that sales of the global 3D printing market totaled US$5.16 billion in 2015, up 26 percent from a year earlier, with EOS, SLM Solutions, Arcam and Concept Laser — the world’s leading 3D printing firms — witnessing their sales up more than 35 percent for the year.
Wohlers, which provides consulting services in 3D printing technology development, has anticipated that sales for 2020 will even hit US$20 billion. The ITRI has encouraged Taiwanese firms to speed up their pace of 3D printing development in molding, aviation and medical equipment manufacturing.
Tsao Fang-hai, head of the ITRI’s laser application center, said that the ITRI has laid a strong foundation in fused deposition modeling, powder bed fusion and laser metal deposition, which could become good tools for the local 3D printing industry to use in rolling out more applications in both software and hardware.
Tsao added that through the alliance, Taiwanese 3D printing technology developers are supposed to work together in cross industrial applications.
They also held a ceremony to mark the establishment of the alliance. The ITRI and 19 other Taiwanese 3D printing technology developers, such as Starmen Opto-Electronics Co. and Tongtai Machine & Tool Co., showcased their products during the ceremony.
Feature Image: huaxia
