Additive Manufacturing UK (AMUK)’s first Members Discussion board of 2025 was held at Siemens’ UK headquarters in South Manchester earlier this yr. The occasion featured displays from AMUK members and supplied attendees an opportunity to community and share insights.
Forward of the day-long meetup, 3D Printing Business caught up with Joshua Dugdale, Head of AMUK, to study extra in regards to the present state of additive manufacturing and the way forward for 3D printing in Britain.
AMUK is the UK’s main 3D printing commerce group. Established in 2014, it operates throughout the Manufacturing Applied sciences Affiliation (MTA) cluster. Attendees at this yr’s first meetup spanned the UK’s total 3D printing ecosystem. Highlights included dialogue on valuable supplies from Cookson Industrial, simulation software program from Siemens, digital thread options from Kaizen PLM, and 3D printing providers supplied by ARRK.
With a background in mechanical engineering, Dugdale is “accountable for every thing and something AMUK does as a company.” In accordance with the Loughborough College alumnus, who can be Head of Expertise and Abilities on the MTA, AMUK’s core mission is to “create an surroundings within the UK the place additive manufacturing can thrive.” He elaborated on how his group is working to extend the business success of its members throughout the “struggling” world manufacturing surroundings.
Dugdale shared his perspective on the important thing challenges going through 3D printing within the UK. He pointed to a “powerful” working surroundings hampered by world monetary challenges, which is delaying investments.
Regardless of this, AMUK’s chief stays optimistic in regards to the sector’s long-term potential, highlighting the UK’s success in R&D and annual 3D printing mental property (IP) output. Dugdale emphasised the worth of 3D printing for UK protection and provide chain resilience, arguing that “protection will prepared the ground” in 3D printing innovation.
Wanting forward, Dugdale referred to as on the UK Authorities to create a unified 3D printing roadmap to exchange its “disjointed” method to coverage and funding. He additionally shared AMUK’s technique for 2025 and past, emphasizing a give attention to eductaion, provide chain visibility, and requirements. In the end, the AMUK figurehead shared a constructive outlook on the way forward for 3D printing within the UK. He envisions a brand new wave of innovation that can see extra British startups and college spinouts rising over the following 5 years.
What’s the present state of additive manufacturing within the UK?
In accordance with Dugdale, the 3D printing business is experiencing a difficult interval, pushed largely by world financial pressures. “I wouldn’t describe it as underperforming, I’d describe it as flat,” Dugdale stated. “The manufacturing sector as a complete is going through important challenges, and additive manufacturing is not any exception.” He pointed to elevated competitors, a cautious funding local weather, and the reluctance of companies to undertake new applied sciences because of the financial uncertainty.
Dugdale particularly highlighted the rise within the UK’s Nationwide Insurance coverage contribution (NIC) fee for employers, which rose from 13.8% to fifteen% on April 6, 2025. He famous that many British corporations postponed funding choices forward of the announcement, reflecting rising warning throughout the UK manufacturing sector. “With additive manufacturing, individuals should be keen to take dangers,” added Dugdale. “Individuals are holding off in the intervening time as a result of the present local weather doesn’t favor danger.”
Dugdale stays optimistic in regards to the sector’s long-term potential, arguing that the UK continues to excel in academia and R&D. Nevertheless, for Dugdale, commercializing that analysis is the place the nation should enhance earlier than it could stand out on the world stage. This turns into particularly clear when in comparison with nations in North America and Asia, which obtain considerably better monetary assist. “We’re by no means going to compete with the US and China, as a result of they’ve a lot extra money behind them,” he defined.
In a European context, Dugdale believes the UK “is doing fairly properly.” Nevertheless, Britain stays beneath Spain by way of monetary backing and know-how adoption. “Spain has a way more mature business,” Dugdale defined. “Their AM affiliation has been going for 10 years, and it’s clear that their business is extra cohesive and additional alongside. It’s a degree of professionalism we are able to study from.” Whereas the Iberian nation faces related challenges in requirements, provide chain, and visibility, it advantages from a degree of cohesion that units it aside from many different European nations.
Dugdale pointed to the Formnext commerce present as a transparent instance of this disparity. He expects the Spanish pavilion to span round 200 sq. meters and have ten corporations at this yr’s occasion, a “huge” distinction in comparison with the UK’s 36 sq. meters final yr. AMUK’s presence might develop to round 70 sq. meters at Formnext 2025, however this nonetheless lags far behind. Dugdale attributes this hole to authorities assist. “They get extra funding. This makes it much more enticing for corporations to come back as a result of there’s much less danger for them,” he defined.
3D printing for UK Protection
As world safety considerations develop, the UK authorities has intensified efforts to bolster its protection capabilities. On this context, 3D printing is rising as a key enabler. Earlier this yr, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) launched its first Defence Superior Manufacturing Technique, outlining a plan to “embrace 3D printing,” with additive manufacturing anticipated to play a pivotal function in the UK’s future army operations.
Dugdale recognized two key benefits of additive manufacturing for protection: provide chain resilience and frontline manufacturing. For the previous, he pressured the significance of constructing localized provide chains to cut back lead instances and remove dependence on abroad shipments. This functionality is essential for making certain that army platforms, whether or not on land, at sea, or within the air, stay operational.
3D printing close to the entrance traces provides benefits for conducting fast repairs and sustaining warfighting capabilities within the subject. “If a tank must get again off the battlefield, you possibly can print a widget or bracket that’ll maintain for simply 5 miles,” Dugdale defined. “It’s not about good engineering; it’s about getting the automobile residence.”
The British Military has already adopted containerized 3D printers to check additive manufacturing close to the entrance traces. Final yr, British troops deployed metallic and polymer 3D printers throughout Train Steadfast Defender, NATO’s largest army train because the Chilly Conflict. Dubbed Challenge Bokkr, the additive manufacturing capabilities included XSPEE3D chilly spray 3D printer from Australian agency SPEE3D.
Elsewhere in 2024, the British Military participated in Additive Manufacturing Village 2024, a army showcase organized by the European Defence Company. Throughout the occasion, UK personnel 3D printed 133 purposeful components, together with 20 comprised of metallic. Additionally they developed technical information packs (TDPs) for 70 completely different 3D printable spare components. The goal was to equip Ukrainian troops with the aptitude to 3D print army gear immediately on the level of want.
Dugdale believes success within the UK protection sector will assist drive wider adoption of 3D printing. “Protection will prepared the ground,” he stated, suggesting that army customers will construct the data base needed for broader civilian adoption. This might additionally spur innovation in supplies science, an space Dugdale expects to see important developments within the coming years.
Advocating for a “unified industrial technique”
Regardless of promising development in defence, Dugdale recognized main hurdles that also hinder the widespread adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) within the UK.
A key problem lies within the important data hole surrounding the varied sorts of AM and their distinctive benefits. This hole, he famous, discourages professionals acquainted with conventional manufacturing strategies like milling and turning from embracing 3D printing. “FDM isn’t the identical as WAAM,” added Dugdale. “Making an attempt to elucidate that in a really good, coherent story isn’t at all times straightforward.”
Dugdale additionally raised considerations in regards to the business’s fragmented nature, particularly in relation to software program compatibility and the dearth of interoperability between 3D printing techniques. “The software program is commonly closed, and completely different machines don’t at all times talk properly with one another. That may create concern about locking into the incorrect ecosystem too early,” he defined.
For Dugdale, these boundaries can solely be overcome with a transparent industrial technique for additive manufacturing. He believes the UK Authorities ought to develop a unified technique that defines a transparent roadmap for improvement. This, Dugdale argued, would allow business gamers to align their efforts and investments.
The UK has invested over £500 million in AM-related initiatives over the previous decade. Nevertheless, Dugdale defined that fragmented funding has restricted its affect. As a substitute, the AMUK Chief argues that the UK Authorities’s technique ought to acknowledge AM as certainly one of “a number of key enabling applied sciences,” alongside machine tooling, metrology, and different vital manufacturing instruments.
He believes this unified method might considerably increase the UK’s productiveness and absolutely combine 3D printing into the broader industrial panorama. “Corporations will align themselves with the roadmap, permitting them to develop and mature on the similar fee,” Dugdale added. “This may assist us to make smarter choices about how we fund and the place we fund.”
AMUK’s roadmap and the way forward for 3D printing within the UK
When forecasting 3D printing market efficiency, Dugdale and his crew observe 5 key industries: automotive, aerospace, medical, metallic items, and chemical processes. In accordance with Dugdale, these industries are the first customers of machine instruments, which makes them essential indicators of market well being.
AMUK additionally depends on 3D printing business surveys to gauge confidence, serving to them to identify tendencies even when granular information is scarce. By evaluating sector efficiency with survey-based confidence indicators, AMUK builds insights into the long run market trajectory. The robust efficiency of sectors like aerospace and healthcare, which rely closely on 3D printing, reinforces Dugdale’s confidence within the long-term potential of additive manufacturing.
Looking forward to the second half of 2025, AMUK plans to give attention to three main challenges: provide chain visibility, abilities improvement, and requirements. Dugdale explains that these points stay central to the maturation of the UK’s AM ecosystem. Schooling will play a key function in these efforts.
AMUK is already operating a number of additive manufacturing upskilling initiatives in faculties and universities to construct the following technology of 3D printing pioneers. These embody pilot initiatives that introduce 3D printing to Key Stage 3 college students (aged 11) and AM college programs which can be tailor-made to business wants.
In the long run, Dugdale suggests AMUK might evolve to focus extra on addressing particular business challenges, reminiscent of net-zero emissions or automotive light-weighting. This could contain creating specialised working teams that target how 3D printing can handle particular urgent points.
Apparently, Dugdale revealed that AMUK’s success in advancing the UK’s 3D printing business might ultimately result in the group being dissolved and reabsorbed into the MTA. This final result, he defined, would sign that “additive manufacturing has actually matured” and is now seen as an integral a part of the broader manufacturing ecosystem, quite than a distinct segment know-how.
In the end, Dugdale is optimistic for the way forward for 3D printing within the UK. He acknowledged that AMUK remains to be “making an attempt to play catch-up for the final 100 years of machine software know-how.” Nevertheless, additive manufacturing improvements are set to speed up. “There’s plenty of thrilling analysis occurring in universities, and we have to discover methods to assist these initiatives achieve the funding and visibility they want,” Dugdale urged.
Because the know-how continues to develop, Dugdale believes additive manufacturing will step by step lose its area of interest standing and turn into a normal software for producers. “In ten years, we might see a technology of staff who grew up with 3D printers at residence,” he advised me. “For them, it’ll simply be one other know-how to make use of within the office, not one thing to be amazed by.”
With this future in thoughts, Dugdale’s imaginative and prescient for 3D printing is certainly one of broad adoption, supported by clear technique and coverage, because the know-how continues to evolve and combine into UK business.
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