3D opportunity for end-use products

Additive manufacturing (AM), more popularly known as 3D printing, describes a group of technologies used to produce objects through the addition rather than the removal of material. AM was first used commercially in the mid-1980s for the creation of prototypes, models, and visualization tools. More recently, however, advances in printer and materials technology have allowed AM to expand to applications such as tooling and end-use part production.