Additive Manufacturing

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Mines Career Center

The Mines Career Center helps students chart their career paths and prepare for job searches, holds networking events and brings hundreds of employers to campus, among a host of other services.

Job Boards

• Alexander Daniels Global Career Portal
• 3D Natives Jobs
• 3DPrint.com Jobs
• 3D Printing Industry Job Board
• Women in 3D Printing Job Board

Research and Trade Publications

• 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing
• Additive Manufacturing
• Additive Manufacturing Journal
• Additive Manufacturing Today
• Advanced Powder Technology
• International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing
• Metal Additive Manufacturing Magazine
• Rapid Prototyping Journal
• TCT Magazine
• Women in 3D Printing

Learning Materials

• 3D Hubs Webinars
• 3D Systems Webinars
• Markforged Learning Library
• Materialise Webinars
• Stratasys Webinars

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of industrial engineers is projected to grow 10 percent from 2019 to 2029, faster than the average for all occupations. That’s 30,000 new jobs. “Many companies will be seeking to make use of new technologies to automate production processes in many different kinds of industries,” says the BLS. “Those with knowledge of manufacturing engineering may have the best prospects for employment.”

Plastics Technology magazine, in an article from December 2019, pointed out five additive manufacturing trends to watch in 2020. They predicted greater industrial-scale adoption of additive manufacturing, increased automation, closer collaborations, an emphasis on sustainability and expansion of end markets, particularly in biomedical, consumer goods, automotive, aerospace and electronics.

While the manufacturing industry is at continued risk for disruption due to tariffs, a tight labor market and the COVID-19 pandemic, the uncertainties also offer plenty of opportunities.

“Additive manufacturing has gained plenty of ‘street cred’ through COVID-19 as small and large manufacturers, many that were quietly making unique products that could, of course, be made only through additive manufacturing,” according to SME, an association of professionals, educators and students in the manufacturing industry, which hosts the RAPID + TCT showcase of 3D technology companies. “The big 3D printer manufacturers themselves were also at the top of the news hour on a daily and weekly basis — from HP to Stratasys to 3D Systems and up and coming startups such as Carbon, Desktop Metal, MatterHackers, and even some smaller, lesser-known, but equally strong startup players that may not have been on your radar.”

“Many companies have shifted their efforts toward digital projects that build agility and scalability to help them to manage risk,” according to Deloitte’s 2020 manufacturing industry outlook. “Applying artificial intelligence, cloud computing, advanced analytics, robotics, and additive manufacturing to the value chain can increase visibility and transparency, allowing manufacturers to make faster changes to operations to respond to market-based threats or opportunities.”

In November 2020, 3D printing solutions company Essentium announced the results of its third annual study, which revealed that the use of large-scale additive manufacturing has more than doubled in the past year for 70 percent of manufacturing companies. The company also found that the number of companies that have shifted to using AM for full-scale production runs of hundreds of thousands of parts has doubled from 7 percent in 2019 to 14 percent in 2020.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, AM proved it can step in to make quantities of supplies at scale, or at least the mold to make the product, to keep the assembly lines moving. The survey found 57 percent of manufacturers increased 3D printing for production parts to keep their supply chains flowing during the crisis. 3D printing investment plans have also changed at many companies: 24 percent of respondents have gone all-in; 25 percent of manufacturers are ramping up to meet supply chain needs; and 30 percent of respondents are evaluating industrial-scale 3D printing to fill supply chain gaps.”

“The survey highlighted the increasing expectation for more reliable and affordable 3D printing materials to deliver on AM’s promising range of benefits. The survey showed continued agreement that the manufacturing industry could save billions of dollars in production costs once 3D printing technology matures (90 percent of manufacturers agree). The majority (84 percent) of respondents think that companies investing in AM will have a clear competitive advantage in the next five years, while 87 percent believe 3D printing will increasingly drive local manufacturing. However, to achieve these benefits, materials innovations will be critical to overcome obstacles, including the high cost of 3D printing materials (37 percent) and unreliable materials (24 percent).”