Sustainable Plastics -March/ April 2021 - 25

additive manufacturing
fully embedded additive manufacturing in their operations.
Respondents to this survey
cited three main barriers to a
further uptake of the technology within their businesses.
Some 67% named operational
capabilities as a major impediment. " This comes down to the
question of: do we have the infrastructure to implement this
technology? " Jhamb clarified.
Another 65% saw the level of
knowledge needed to embed
3D printing technology in the
organisation as an obstacle,
while 40% mentioned that the
business case was a hurdle -
" How to gain approval based
on the numbers , " said Jhamb,
adding: " We need to work on
removing these hurdles. "
The respondents also named
a number of improvements they
would like to see. At the top of
the wish list was faster printing,
a recurrent, much-heard and
longstanding complaint. The
second was more of a surprise:
better integration with tools and
systems. " This ranked twelfth
last year, " said Jhamb. " Custom-

ers want a one-stop shop. Plus,
it is a sign of the times: now
that, during the pandemic, so
much takes place remotely, the
importance of connectivity and
integration suddenly become
even more evident. "
The third area that many respondents would like to see an
improvement in was the reliability and accuracy of the process,
closely followed by the range of
materials available for use.
Right now, plastics and
polymers are still far and away
the most commonly used materials, with PETG, PET and
PETT among the materials
that showed the most growth.
However, a wider range of purpose-developed polymer materials will serve to unlock new,
end-use applications that are
currently not yet available. 3D
printing with composites, metals or other materials still lag
far, far behind plastics.
Fifth on the list was ease of
use - something, CEO Jürgen
von Hollen called 'one of the
biggest challenges for the next
years to come'. From a tech-

ed technology.
nology perWe've forced
spective, the
them to edtask of the
ucate
themindustry, he
selves, while
said, was 'rewe
helped
ally simple':
them
along.
take out the
What we need
complexity
to understand
of using the
is that they
technology.
want an end " It's
that
to-end,
simsimple. If we
ple
process
can take out
to utilize the
the complextechnology, " he
ity, then the
explained.
level required
" That's how
of the peoI see Ultimakple using the Rohit Jhamb, Director Global
er's role in all
technology is Research and Analytics
this: we must
reduced and
step into the
it opens up
the technology to the mass end user's shoes and facilitate that. Which comes back
market, " he said.
" The ease of use is such an to why we believe the market's
important part of driving the going to grow: because we
market growth going forward. now have the ease of use and
The industry has made 3D ability to connect to the difprinting complex. We've viewed ferent phases of the workflow
it from our perspective - from a used by the customer.
And I think for us that maktechnology perspective - rather
than from that of the customer, ing this happen is one of our
who sees a complex, fragment- key drivers. "

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