AM investment panel: multi-machine orders, services growth and cost drivers

At the AM Investment Strategies webinar on 5 November, executives from Carbon, Incodema3D, Nikon SLM Solutions and Stratasys described customers moving from single machines to multi-unit production orders. AM Research reported record first-half hardware revenue in 2026, with print services leading growth. The panel also compared cost structures of metal and polymer parts and named qualification and standardisation as the slow points.

Context OEE, overall equipment effectiveness, is a standard measure of how much of a machine's planned time produces good parts at the intended speed.

Where is the demand coming from?

Formnext Vice President Sascha F. Wenzler said the question is no longer whether AM is a manufacturing technology, but where adoption speeds up and how fast applications reach production. He named aerospace, defence and energy as the drivers of metal AM demand in North America and Europe, and noted that Chinese suppliers are gaining ground in both desktop and industrial printing. The coming Formnext in Frankfurt will include a post-processing showcase and its first Defence Summit.

Scott Dunham of AM Research said the global AM market has now grown for six consecutive quarters, after weak hardware sales in 2023 and 2024. The first half of 2026 brought the highest hardware revenue for any such period on record. In Q2, print services made up about $2.5 billion of a $4.48 billion market, and metal powder bed fusion services in North America are closing in on all polymer services combined.

What do the larger orders look like?

Incodema3D CEO Sean Whittaker said the company is negotiating several long-term agreements, which give it the confidence to buy more equipment. In 2026 it added 16 multi-laser printers and eight large-format CNC machines, and it now runs more than 50 multi-laser printers. A second site in the Southeast US is planned to be fully running by Q4 2027. Whittaker added that machining equipment can take longer to procure and install than printers, and that qualifying parts for production still takes too long.

Nikon SLM Solutions CEO Sam O'Leary said multi-unit orders for production programmes are now routine, where a few single-machine deals per quarter were typical five years ago. Stratasys CEO Yoav Zeif said customers increasingly buy several machines together with software, post-processing and automation, though adoption across a large company such as General Motors takes years and requires work on OEE and standardisation. Carbon CEO Phil DeSimone cited a deal signed that morning for 28 printers, 28 automation units and 30 metric tons of resin.

What drives part cost?

Whittaker said material was under 10 percent of part price in the metal work he described, while DeSimone put it at 60 to 70 percent for large polymer applications. For those, he said even a doubling of printer speed would barely change the part price, whereas larger resin volumes and less post-processing would help more. Carbon's Riddell helmet liner programme passed 150,000 helmets in 2026 and is projected to exceed 200,000 in 2027.

On AI, O'Leary described using data from machines in the field to support service technicians. DeSimone said Carbon uses CT scans and standard AI agents to adapt part files within a build, cutting a task from over a week to one day, and is working on a user-friendly workflow. O'Leary is moving to the supervisory board, with Jan-Niklas Thielmann and Simone Castellani leading as co-presidents. AM Research expects Q3 data around Formnext and a new services market model in Q1 2027.

What it means

The cost split matters for any manufacturer weighing AM: in metal, machining, qualification and capacity planning around the printer dominate, while in polymer volume production resin price and post-processing weigh more than build speed. Multi-unit orders come from large players with long-term contracts, so small and mid-sized EU firms are more likely to benefit through service providers than through their own fleets. The repeated point that qualification and standardisation take years suggests realistic timelines for production adoption are long, whatever the market growth figures say.

Frequently asked questions

How big was the AM market in Q2 2026?

According to AM Research, the market totalled $4.48 billion, of which print services accounted for about $2.5 billion.

How does part cost differ between metal and polymer?

Incodema3D said material is under 10 percent of part price in its metal work, while Carbon put it at 60 to 70 percent for large polymer applications.

What slows adoption according to the panel?

Whittaker named slow part qualification and long machining equipment lead times, while Zeif stressed the years needed to standardise a process across a large manufacturer.