NEWS
Additive manufacturing to be established for automotive series production
A new collaborative project will transfer metal 3D printing into an industrialised and highly automated series process in the automotive industry for the first time. The IDAM project (Industrialisation and Digitisation of Additive Manufacturing for Automotive Series Processes) held its first meeting in Munich in April. The project, coordinated by BMW Group and funded by the BMBF, will run for three years to pave the way for additive manufacturing to enter automotive series production. The project features two modular and almost completely automated AM production lines implemented in two automotive industry environments – BMW Group’s Additive Manufacturing Center in Munich, and automotive supplier GKN Powder Metallurgy’s factory in Bonn – both for the mass-production of identical parts and for the production of individual and spare parts. The production lines will cover the entire AM process, from digital to physical component manufacturing, all the way to post-processing. The 12 project partners, consisting
of SMEs, large companies and research institutions, strive for the production lines to ultimately be able to mass-produce at least 50,000 components per year, in addition to producing over 10,000 individual and spare parts, at the highest quality and under extreme cost pressure. Project partners in addition to BMW and GKN include: • Aconity • Concept Reply • Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT • Chair for Digital Additive Production DAP RWTH Aachen • Myrenne • Intec • Kinexon Industries
IN BRIEF
Messe Stuttgart premiered its new trade fair ‘T4M’ – Technology for Medical Devices – in Stuttgart last month. It brought together experts in the technologies, processes and materials involved in the production and manufacturing of medical technology.
Trumpf subsidiary SPI Lasers has demonstrated effective security and customs compliance within its supply chain in the face of a post-Brexit Britain, and has been granted Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status.
• Technical University of Munich, Chair of Metal Forming and Casting • Schmitz Spezialmaschinenbau • Volkmann By integrating metal AM into the conventional production lines of the automotive industry, the partners will enable current expensive and time-consuming processes, such as the production of moulds, to be replaced, in addition to enabling the ability to customise products at no extra cost. The modular format of production lines enables individual modules to be adapted to different production requirements, or replaced if necessary. The process steps of the modules can be controlled flexibly. By taking an integrated view of the
automotive production line into account, the project partners plan on reducing the manual share of activities along the process chain from currently around 35 per cent to less than 5 per cent. In addition, the unit costs of 3D-printed metal components should be more than halved, according to the partners. The inclusion of large industrial partners is what enables the linked modules to be used in AM production lines under real conditions and on a large scale. In addition, the inclusion of such partners will enable industrial standards to be set and industry-relevant quality characteristics to be elaborated.
Cathay Capital, Mérieux Equity Partners, Bpifrance, and Auriga Partners, have announced that they are selling their stake in ultrafast laser manufacturer Amplitude Laser Group, to the Luxembourg-based investment company L-GAM.
UK firm TLM Laser has partnered with German laser surface processing specialist 4Jet to expand its portfolio of laser- based technologies.
US manufacturing firm Cadence has acquired Arcor Laser, a US provider of laser welding, laser cutting, machining, marking and micro-drilling services.
The European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) has announced its advocation for a photonics contractual public private partnership (cPPP) to be selected for funding under the future Horizon Europe 2021-2027 programme.
Trumpf establishes new business division after Photonics acquisition from Philips
Laser manufacturer Trumpf has established a new business division, ‘Trumpf Photonic Components’, after its acquisition of Photonics from Philips, was completed in April. The new business division will be headed by Lutz Aschke, CFO of laser
technology at Trumpf since 2016, and Joseph Pankert, general manager of Photonics since 2009. Photonics has 280
employees and is headquartered in Ulm, Germany, where it manufactures laser diodes in a dedicated production plant. Now, it is set to
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continue growing as part of Trumpf. The acquisition will enable Trumpf to gain access to a new market segment that will complement its existing high-power diode laser business. Photonics’ laser diodes are used in smartphones, in digital
data transfer applications and in sensors for autonomous driving. Trumpf has also
recently placed a promissory loan note for €250 million. The proceeds will provide long-term financing for the company’s overall development
and, in particular, help support its operating growth. The company planned to place a loan volume of €150 million, however, exceptionally strong demand from investors and a heavily oversubscribed order book prompted Trumpf to scale up the loan amount.
SUMMER 2019 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE 5
BMW
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