MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – Xometry

The last two years have highlighted systematic challenges within the manufacturing industry. These affect all parts of the supply chain, from those who need things made to the manufacturers and supporting industries. Standard sourcing puts the burden on the buyer, leading to time-consuming back and forth, vulnerabilities with single points of failure, and a generally opaque market where the right supplier may exist but just isn’t visible. Procurement challenges affect all projects, from a quick prototype to critical component supply for medical devices, and the market is looking for solutions.

Digital manufacturing marketplaces have demonstrated success through distributed manufacturing and building technology-driven connections. In 2022, we predict these platforms will continue democratizing access to manufacturing and reduce disruptions to supply. Marketplace platforms like Xometry will act as a digital twin, seamlessly connecting manufacturers with relevant projects.

Why do we predict growth in digital platforms for manufacturing? We see the market demand for more resilient solutions while also looking for that “app” experience. Like Airbnb disrupted lodging, or Uber with transport, Xometry built a digital manufacturing platform to meet this gap in the market.

Digital transformation across manufacturing will begin to normalize in 2022. Secure, 24/7 online platforms for technical data sharing and specifications will unify the quoting experience across industries – starting with on-demand custom manufacturing and moving into production contract services. These digital platforms also attract the supplier base, providing an expansive and diverse capability set across processes like CNC machining, injection molding, additive manufacturing, and others. Xometry’s platform has pioneered this industry, with AI-driven instant quoting and automatic matchmaking to thousands of suppliers. Xometry has added over a dozen manufacturing processes to date, and with the acquisition of Thomas, it adds a  directory of more than 500,000 suppliers.

Digital manufacturing goes beyond a fast quote. Adopting digital marketplace models go hand in hand with distributed manufacturing practices. Distributed manufacturing pools talent from all over, creating geographic dispersion and redundancy. All of this allows for agile recovery during disruptions such as weather events, geopolitical changes, closures, or even a global pandemic. 2022 has started in the wake of significant supply challenges, and the manufacturing industry’s digital transformation opportunities are massive.

Author: Greg Paulsen, Director of Application Engineering, Xometry

Author bio: Greg Paulsen leads the Applications Engineering Team at Xometry, working with customers and suppliers on unique projects and sharing the capabilities of Xometry’s digital manufacturing platform. He’s an expert in all things manufacturing, from 3D printing to CNC machining, to injection molding and beyond.

Category: Industry Predictions

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 30th, 2022 at 5:42 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.