The State of AM in Asia

Host Fabian Alefeld speaks with Japan-based additive manufacturing consultant Peter Rogers about the state of additive manufacturing across Asia Pacific. Rogers contrasts Japan’s advanced but risk-averse manufacturing culture - strong in incremental optimization, with slower certification (notably medical) and limited defense budgets - with faster-moving but smaller markets like Australia/New Zealand, where mining drives demand for rapid, remote part supply. They discuss China’s manufacturing scale and government support, its growing dominance in desktop FDM, and how low-cost Chinese metal PBF machines can win and retain service-bureau business despite Western strengths in quality and productivity. Singapore is highlighted for academia and MRO, while Korea spans shipbuilding, semicon, automotive, and defense. Southeast Asia is still production-focused with limited local R&D, whereas India is rising as an English-speaking engineering and R&D hub for global OEMs. Both see lowering costs and AI enabling broader, consumer-facing AM applications. 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 01:49 Peter Rogers Background 03:32 Moving to Japan 05:12 APAC Additive Overview 09:23 China Manufacturing Dynamics 13:27 Reshoring and Kaizen Mindset 18:45 Traditional Skills vs Additive 20:57 Japan Nearing Inflection Point 25:06 Top APAC Applications 29:02 Japan Korea Industry Mix 30:31 China Scale And Funding 33:18 FDM Race To Bottom 34:27 Bambu Ecosystem Advantage 36:53 Metal AM Price Expansion 38:23 Chinese Metal Machines Case 40:30 Competing On Productivity 44:10 Southeast Asia Adoption 47:06 India RnD Powerhouse 49:46 Future Consumer Breakthroughs 52:40 Japan Pushing DED Limits 55:30 AI Lowers Barriers 57:13 Wrap Up And Farewell

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The State of AM in Asia is an episode from Additive Snack by Fabian Alefeld.

This episode is 59:09 long.

This episode was published on Apr 10, 2026.

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