BMW Group says it’s investing in new programs, bigger construct volumes and digitally related course of chains because it plans to take additive manufacturing ‘to the subsequent industrial degree’.
The automotive firm, which has been utilizing the know-how because the early ’90s (BMW was the recipient of EOS’s first Stereos 400 system again in 1990), says AM has grow to be a ‘related constructing block all through the automobile lifecycle’, and is now a longtime a part of its each day operations. In a weblog publish this week, BMW says it’s specializing in scalable functions, enhancing automation and maturing newer applied sciences, significantly Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing, into collection manufacturing from subsequent yr.
Timo Göbel, Head of Additive Manufacturing on the BMW Group mentioned, “A key pillar of our scaling technique is using automated, digitally networked course of chains, and open-material programs in addition to open interfaces, all of which permit seamless integration into our current manufacturing constructions.”
BMW’s Additive Manufacturing Campus (AMC) in Oberschleissheim was established in 2020 and is the central level for all AM improvement throughout the corporate’s manufacturing community. Over 1.6 million 3D printed components have come out of the power since manufacturing started, and an extra 100,000 are made yearly at different automobile crops. Most lately, the know-how has been used to assist the event and validation of Neue Klasse autos and latest-generation electrical drive. Within the weblog publish, BMW shared its plans to additional combine AM into current manufacturing constructions by investing in new programs, bigger construct volumes and digitally related course of chains.
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The corporate says it’s significantly within the potential for WAAM in producing large-scale metallic parts. BMW has been exploring WAAM know-how since 2015 and started constructing take a look at parts with an MX3D manufacturing cell in 2021. Now, WAAM is being regularly rolled out in collection manufacturing, with official manufacturing set to start in 2027.
BMW believes it’ll see extra alternatives for bigger, useful parts with improved properties, produced extra flexibly and in much less time, with out the necessity for conventional tooling. It additionally expects to see new functions in prototyping. The corporate has additionally shared how open-material programs and interfaces will improve its technological breadth and assist with quicker integration of latest options into current industrial environments. The advantages are anticipated to be felt not solely on the AMC however all through its manufacturing community as crops throughout the globe are given the instruments to 3D print their very own manufacturing equipment, in-house and on-demand.
Again in March, BMW bolstered its dedication to AM and defined the way it was “actively shaping the transition of additive manufacturing into a totally built-in and broadly established manufacturing know-how – each technologically and organisationally.” This week’s replace additional reinforces Göbel’s earlier remark that automated, digitally networked course of chains, open-material programs and open interfaces would kind a “key pillar” of BMW’s scaling technique.
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