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Water Jet Cutting set for huge growth

A regular focus of this blog is that water jet cutting is growing in importance and is increasingly eclipsing other options as the favoured technology for creating accurate parts.

And this is a view based not on mere personal opinion or our closeness to the tech. It is backed by research.

A new report has estimated that the global water jet cutting market will grow by around 4% per year and jump from 960 million US dollars to 1,367 million US dollars. This analysis is based on both market trends, global production changes and also the usage of water jet cutting over the past few years.

It is a report that makes for interesting reading and touches upon many trends we know only too well. We appreciate that you might not plan to read dozens of pages on water jet cutting today, so here are a few key points.

  • 3D cutting – the ability to cut complex parts in one fluid motion – has grown to account for more than 50% of all water jet cutting.
  • The growth of water jet cutting has occurred at different paces globally and it is southeast Asia that leads the way. This has led to this region beginning to gain a competitive advantage in many industries. The US and Europe and catching up with their usage of water jet cutting; an essential step to stay competitive.
  • The development of new five-axis machines has made cuts ever faster and more efficient.

 

We actually believe that this growth figure may be conservative, it is possible that the rate of uptake accelerates. After all, if ever more areas and companies find that they are at a competitive disadvantage by not using water jet cutting then they will have no option but to make the switch.

However, as mentioned in previous posts, it could be that the availability of both machines and also skilled operatives could be what limits growth. We know as a leading UK provider that demand is high – indeed we are contacted by businesses from across Europe looking for reliable water jet cutting –  a clear indication of lack of resource where they are based. We are always happy to help, but the global lack of water jet cutting plants could hamper growth. A concern would also be that the growth leads to some starting to offer water jet cutting with poor-quality machines or operators who lack training.

Nevertheless, the future will only see growth for water jet cutting; at home and abroad. The only question is how fast this growth will be.