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Digital manufacturing trends Q3 2018

The new Digital Manufacturing Trends for Q3 2018 has been released.

Written by George Fisher-Wilson

The new Digital Manufacturing Trends for Q3-2018 has been released, you can check it out here . Spring has brought about a drastic change to the data, with the beginning of a new financial year and the end of the academic year. Engineers are starting new projects and students are finishing their final year projects.

Since Q1-2018 three areas of data are omitted which can still be found below. The reason for this change is down to the Protolabs Network waiting list being introduced to help balance supply and demand geographically. This waiting list has meant a slow down in new printers added making categories such as Trending Printers, Printer Model distribution and Printer Manufacturer distribution less relevant. We understand that this information for some is still interesting so we've made sure to publish it here.

Trending Printers

Printer Name Growth Previous Rank
Prusa Research Original Prusa i3 MK3 1700% 2
Creality CR-10 S5 475% 3
Creality CR-10 34.70% 4
Original Prusa i3 MK2S 18.50% 5
Ultimaker 3 Extended 17.30%

Printer Model Distribution

Rank Printer Name Ratio
1 Original Prusa i3 MK2 4.4%
2 Form 2 4.2%
3 Zortrax M200 3.6%
4 Ultimaker 2 3.6%
5 Original Prusa i3 MK2S 2.8%
6 FlashForge Creator Pro 2.8%
7 ANET 3D - A8 1.9%
8 Ultimaker 2+ 1.9%
9 Makerbot Replicator 2 1.8%
10 Creality CR-10 1.8%
11 Ultimaker 3 1.1%
12 Makerbot Replicator 2x 1.1%
13 Ultimaker 2+ Extended 0.9%
14 Other FDM 0.9%
15 Raise3D N2 Plus 0.9%
16 Makergear M2 0.9%
17 Wanhao Duplicator i3 V2 0.9%
18 Lulzbot Taz 5 0.9%
19 BCN3D SIGMA 0.8%
20 Lulzbot Taz 6 0.8%
21 Ultimaker Original Plus 0.8%
22 Form 1+ 0.8%
23 FlashForge Dreamer 0.7%
24 Makerbot Replicator 5th Gen 0.7%
25 Other 59%

Printer Manufacturer Distribution

Rank Manufacturer Ratio
1 Ultimaker 10.2%
2 Prusa Research 7.2%
3 Formlabs 5.7%
4 MakerBot 4.7%
5 FlashForge 4.6%
6 Zortrax 3.8%
7 Wanhao 3.4%
8 Stratasys 3.0%
9 3D Systems 3.0%
10 Aleph Objects 2.4%
11 Other 51.8%

Find out more industry data in the Digital Manufaturing Trends here including:

  • The highest rated industrial and desktop 3D printers based on customer reviews
  • The most widely used manufacturing technologies and materials
  • The most popular CNC materials and finishes being used in industry
  • The popularity of manufacturers and printer models
  • The top cities and countries doing the most 3D printing

Our 3D Printing Trends Report for 2020 is now available for download here.