Digital Trends You Need to Know

A First: Metal Free Eclipses Metal Based as a Percentage of C&B Workloads. For the first time, survey respondents’ metal-free C&B workloads—including conventionally and digitally fabricated cases—have exceeded metal-based: 60% metal free vs. 40% metal. In fact, the percentage of metal-free work has doubled in the past four years, from 30% to 60%.

Here’s a historical look at this shift in the past decade according to LMT’s survey data:

Year                 Metal-based         Metal-free        
2005                         83%                    17%
2007                         77%    ...