What Happened To The Huge 3D Printer Presence At CES?

Who's Going to CES 2023? nothing.

CES 2023 is just around the corner, and the giant annual tech show used to be the place to announce new 3D printers and related products, but that's no longer the case.

The story of why this happened is very interesting and is part of the history of 3D printing.

It all started with the expiration of the Stratasys FDM patents in 2008, which made it possible for others to use the same process in less expensive designs. MakerBot was one of many contributors led by former CEO Bre Pettis.

Pettis is a great marketer because he has developed a great strategy for promoting his company's new product, the Desktop Replicator 3D printer. Based on an open source workspace, Pettis and his team are positioning their device as a personal 3D printer that every consumer will want to use.

There is another reason for this strategy: replicators are not suitable for use in a professional or production environment, and the market for them is closed. But hobbyists, DIY enthusiasts and general consumers can do it.

The company began testing the Replicator in the home furnishings industry, which has been a huge success in the DIY space.

But what better place than the annual Consumer Electronics Show, also known as CES, to find announcements about consumer devices? MakerBot set up what was probably the only 3D printer booth at CES in 2010. As the sole exhibitor of increasingly new and (at the time) exciting new technologies, MakerBot attracted a large amount of attention from a plethora of media technology in this event. It was a great success.

In subsequent years, MakerBot returned to CES and even introduced a new motor at the show. I even attended the 2X Replicator release announcement.

With the success of MakerBot, many other 3D printer manufacturers of the time also showed up at the upcoming CES. At one point, I think there were maybe 150 3D printer-related exhibitors at CES, who set up their own tech area in the Innovation Hall, along with cool new technologies like wearables and the like.

Even non-consumer 3D printing companies like Stratasys are emerging now. At the time, I think Stratasys was trying to keep up with 3D Systems, which was then trying to launch a range of 3D printing equipment and consumer services.

But it's a little surprising that CES attendees aren't manufacturers, architects, designers, and makers. They are actually online shoppers. The regulars are product managers at electronics stores looking for the latest cameras and TVs to order next year.

Eventually, after MakerBot was acquired by Stratasys, its presence at CES ceased. This made sense as most 3D printer manufacturers at the time were desperately changing direction to focus on professional applications as the consumer market crashed and burned.

With the departure of MakerBot, many 3D printer manufacturers have also realized that CES is not the place to sell their products. The number of 3D printer companies at the event has dropped dramatically, and the last CES event our team attended only had about two dozen exhibitors. Many of them were among the first Asian companies that did not understand what they were getting into.

Since then, the number of 3D printing exhibitors at CES has remained low, so we have no plans to attend the event. However, there are companies making their way to CES.

I checked the CES 2023 entry list to see if the model was available and it was. Here are the relevant metrics I found

3D Music (3D Printed Guitar)
AddOptics (service for 3D printing of visual elements)
Handddle (AM equipment monitoring machine)
JER Education (manufacturer of 3D pens and related products)
Küngil University (3D food printer)
Lynxter (professional multi-component 3D printer)
Neutrogena (3D printed nutritional supplement for healthy skin)
Shenzhen Hotack (3D DLP printer)
Revopoint (3D scanning system)
SavorEat (3D Robot Chef)
Snapmaker (multifunctional 3D printer)
Spero3D (upgrades and accessories for desktop 3D printers)

This is all. Some of these are listed under the "3D printing" tag, but these are services that involve 3D printing and really focus on the final product.

[Update] Formlabs contacted us to let us know that it exists, but for some inexplicable technical reason, the company does not appear in the CES Attendee Guide to 3D Printing. They said they were able to get sales at the event because they had many customers who attended the event.

If you're looking for 3D printing announcements and innovations, CES 2023 might not be the place to be, especially with the skyrocketing cost of attendance.

through CES

Path to 100,000 Original Prusa 3D Printers