This is truly an exciting moment in the SLS market. With HP‘s release of the 1200 and Formlabs‘ release of the X1, we can see the SLS market heating up. I think that a great analogy to how this market will play out can be found in commercial vehicles. Whereas so far choices have been made mainly on volume, going forward, we will see more differentiation and specialization. Before, SLS machines were kind of sold like we were in an ice cream parlor. So much choice, but it boiled down to small, medium, or large. To me, deskside SLS is now at a point where different machines will serve different markets. We will see true change in operator profile, behavior, and utilization. What, therefore, is the future of the PBF-LB/P market? It’s a Game of Trucks.
Road Trains (SLS Factories)
The MGM C509 Quad Road Train is a colossal heavy-haulage combination operated by Australian logistics company MGM Bulk. Image courtesy of MGM Group.
At the very tip of the market sit the Road Trains, big trucks that would be impractical in European cities and unusable in most other places. But, in the Australian outback, long journeys, straight roads, and isolated communities make huge truck-trailer combinations of up to 50 meters feasible,
3D printing workflow. Image courtesy of Grenzebach
Likewise, large, productive polymer manufacturing setups composed of several large multilaser systems are strung together by Grenzebach and others to produce very specific items at very specific quality levels. Rather than a service spitting out all sorts of stuff in PA12, this is a specific manufacturing solution tailored to one product, one industrialization, one industry, one use case. We don’t often see these in the wild, but they make millions of parts. Sometimes in materials that we don’t see anywhere else. Sometimes they’re like a line, and other times it’s more of a round-robin thing with robots connecting batch processes. Highly automated, highly customized, these road trains are going to become more popular, but never popular, costing millions to set up. They require quality, integration, and lots of capital to set up. Let’s call this the SLS Factories segment.
DyeMansion, EOS & Grenzebach successfully implemented the first-ever automated AM production line for polymer parts at scale at BMW Group. Image courtesy of Grenzebach.
Big Rig Versus Cab-overs and Rigids (Continuous Production, Full Frame, Large Part)
The big rig in the US is a heavy semi-truck that looks like it was built in a world where CFD, wind tunnels, and even aerodynamics don’t exist. European variants of the same class come in a cab-over-engine (COE) configuration, reducing overall vehicle length while looking squished. Generally, in the US, trailer length is limited, while in Europe, it’s the length of the truck and trailer that is limited, making US trucks bigger and leading to more compact European models. Trips in the US are longer and mostly o
This is truly an exciting moment in the SLS market. With HP‘s release of the 1200 and Formlabs‘ release of the X1, we can see the SLS market heating up. I think that a great analogy to how this market will play out can be found in commercial vehicles. Whereas so far choices have been made mainly on volume, going forward, we will see more differentiation and specialization. Before, SLS machines were kind of sold like we were in an ice cream parlor. So much choice, but it boiled down to small, medium, or large. To me, deskside SLS is now at a point where different machines will serve different markets. We will see true change in operator profile, behavior, and utilization. What, therefore, is the future of the PBF-LB/P market? It’s a Game of Trucks.
Road Trains (SLS Factories)
The MGM C509 Quad Road Train is a colossal heavy-haulage combination operated by Australian logistics company MGM Bulk. Image courtesy of MGM Group.
At the very tip of the market sit the Road Trains, big trucks that would be impractical in European cities and unusable in most other places. But, in the Australian outback, long journeys, straight roads, and isolated communities make huge truck-trailer combinations of up to 50 meters feasible,
3D printing workflow. Image courtesy of Grenzebach
Likewise, large, productive polymer manufacturing setups composed of several large multilaser systems are strung together by Grenzebach and others to produce very specific items at very specific quality levels. Rather than a service spitting out all sorts of stuff in PA12, this is a specific manufacturing solution tailored to one product, one industrialization, one industry, one use case. We don’t often see these in the wild, but they make millions of parts. Sometimes in materials that we don’t see anywhere else. Sometimes they’re like a line, and other times it’s more of a round-robin thing with robots connecting batch processes. Highly automated, highly customized, these road trains are going to become more popular, but never popular, costing millions to set up. They require quality, integration, and lots of capital to set up. Let’s call this the SLS Factories segment.
DyeMansion, EOS & Grenzebach successfully implemented the first-ever automated AM production line for polymer parts at scale at BMW Group. Image courtesy of Grenzebach.
Big Rig Versus Cab-overs and Rigids (Continuous Production, Full Frame, Large Part)
The big rig in the US is a heavy semi-truck that looks like it was built in a world where CFD, wind tunnels, and even aerodynamics don’t exist. European variants of the same class come in a cab-over-engine (COE) configuration, reducing overall vehicle length while looking squished. Generally, in the US, trailer length is limited, while in Europe, it’s the length of the truck and trailer that is limited, making US trucks bigger and leading to more compact European models. Trips in the US are longer and mostly o