Australia Industrial Additive Manufacturing

The value of Australia’s total Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing market is estimated at USD70 million.  In a similar manner to global developments, demand is gradually shifting from the hobbyist to the commercial and industrial market but from a very low base.  Within the manufacturing sector, Australia is not known as an early adopter of technology and so demand has lagged somewhat behind other markets in the region like Japan and Korea.  However, Australia is a rapid adopter, once the technology has gained traction, and the next five years are likely to see an increasing demand for professional and industrial-grade 3D printing solutions.

Manufacturing accounts for six percent of GDP. Food and beverage manufacturing comprises 30 percent of total manufacturing turnover. Meat and meat products, beverages and dairy products are the largest subsectors.  The other main manufacturing sectors are pulp and paper, printing, chemicals, metals (Australia has many structural and sheet metal fabricators) and machinery and equipment.
 
Food and beverages together with medical, defense (including aerospace), and space also represent four of the six national priority sectors that the Australian Government is further developing and supporting.  These sectors already represent existing markets for 3D printing solutions.  Other current applications in Australia are in automotive (mainly in the aftermarket sector), architecture and dental.

Australian businesses are primarily using 3D printing for prototyping and concept modeling.  Some use also includes the manufacture of production parts, but this is still occurring at a limited level.  For industrial and commercial applications, 3D printing is still primarily being outsourced.

Distributors of machine tools are slowly adding 3D printing solutions to their product lines but for the most part existing 3D printing distributors in Australia tend to mainly focus on solutions and accessories related to 3D printing.  Within the market, there are only a relatively small number of distributors. These distributors often have exclusive relationships with foreign manufacturers.  It is typical for one distributor to be a foreign company’s official or exclusive representative and in turn sell directly to resellers and end-users.