ASTM Buys Wohlers

An unusual acquisition has taken place at ASTM.

When I say ASTM bought Wohlers, I don’t mean they’ve bought themselves a copy of the famous annual Wohlers Report on additive manufacturing. No, I mean they bought the whole organization, Wohlers Associates.

Wohlers Associates is perhaps the most well known intelligence and analytics firm in the additive manufacturing space. Through founder Terry Wohlers, the company has published 26 consecutive annual reports on 3D printing technology and its uses in a way that no one else can. The report is very well read by those in the industry and is an essential way to understand the current technology trajectory.

ASTM, or ASTM International, is a worldwide standards organization, focusing on industry requirements. The provide over 12,800 standards for a variety of industries, including additive manufacturing. Recently, they also opened up the “AM Center of Excellence” to provide additional value to the emerging additive manufacturing industry. They explain:

“The ASTM International Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE) brings together industry, government, and academia to optimize the AM R&D and standards development processes. By tightly coupling these processes, standards get into the hands of those who need them faster, drastically reducing AM time to market and increasing widespread adoption.”

Now the two organizations are legally connected. However, Wohlers Associates will continue operating independently, and will now be known as “Wohlers Associates, powered by ASTM International”.

Founder Wohlers now takes a role as the Head of Additive Manufacturing Market Intelligence, and Wohlers Associates’ Noah Mostow will become Manager of AM Market Intelligence, both part of the AM Center of Excellence.

Wohlers said:

“I could not be more excited about joining the world-class team at ASTM International. Through ASTM, we can now accept more projects than in the past and our advisory services team is now larger than ever. We are glad ASTM has made a commitment to publishing the report for years to come.”

So it seems that Wohlers and team will basically be doing more or less the same type of reporting that his organization has always done, but it may be packaged a bit differently. Currently, it’s a purchasable item directly from Wohlers Associates, but that apparently will change:

“Future editions of the Wohlers Report are expected to be integrated into ASTM’s flagship product Compass, an online subscription platform.”

There is no word on updated report pricing at this time, but as anyone in the industry who’s read previous reports, they’re always worth the cost.

Wohlers Associates said:

“ASTM will leverage the existing Wohlers brand and build on its market influence and access to top AM industry decision-makers worldwide. The acquisition is expected to bring new value to many industries, thus enabling wider adoption of AM products and services.”

This is good news, as it provides a means for this type of reporting to continue into the indefinite future, perhaps even after Wohlers himself departs.

Via ASTM AM Center of Excellence and Wohlers Associates (Powered by ASTM International)