The term “Additive Manufacturing” refers to the production of parts by building up successive layers of a formless material such as metal powder. This makes it possible to “print” objects with a wide variety of different shapes. While the manufacture and utilisation of the relevant equipment and materials remains a young industry, it is already experiencing high growth rates even though the technologies are still developing. The expectations – particularly for industrial applications of Additive Manufacturing – are correspondingly high, in some cases perhaps even excessively so.

The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering and the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities have established two working groups in order to gain an overview of the extremely wide and diverse field of Additive Manufacturing research with a view to formulating recommendations for its ongoing development. Under the overarching theme of “Additive Manufacturing”, the two groups are investigating the opportunities
and challenges of this new technology from a variety of different perspectives.

For this initial statement entitled “Additive Manufacturing”, which focuses on industrial production, value networks and business models acatech acted as the lead institution. It addresses both the status quo and anticipated future developments: what role will Additive Manufacturing techniques play in the digital, connected industrial production of the future? Will this technology revolutionise industrial manufacturing? What impact will Additive Manufacturing have on value creation? And what recommendations can be formulated for government, industry and academia?