Automotive

The automotive industry is facing considerable challenges: electromobility, connectivity, autonomous driving, car sharing require shorter product life cycles and a wide variety of different versions with new demands made on parts and production processes. Ever stronger competition makes it necessary to respond flexibly and individually to the latest developments and requirements. We can help you to react precisely to these new market demands with additive manufacturing. Together with us, you can unlock the potential in all areas of motor vehicle production, from prototyping to printed spare parts.

We can use CAD data to print prototypes for product developers. Alternatively, for testing design spaces and assembly configurations, we make parts that can be used quickly and flexibly tested in vehicles on the road, on the test stand, or in vehicle crash tests. In doing so, we can focus on specific requirements, such as mechanical resilience, temperature requirements on the engine test stand, and the deformation properties of prototypes in crash tests. Expensive tools for conventional casting, injection molding, and deepdrawing processes are no longer necessary thanks to additive manufacturing. In addition, multiple unique versions can be produced simultaneously at no extra cost, significantly cutting development times.

Further services for your prototyping:

• Development of metal and plastic materials in line with requirements for direct incorporation in full-scale production
• Establishment of the additive manufacturing process for prototypes within your company
• Development of quality standards and qualification of suppliers for 3D printing

Additive manufacturing allows us to overcome previous design limitations and create completely new component concepts. Intelligent cooling concepts can be economically produced for electric vehicles, for example, and lightweight chassis parts for high-performance vehicles can also be made in line with the respective load category requirements. New functions and even lighter parts can thus be produced. Furthermore, the latest additive manufacturing processes and the associated advances in productivity have made it possible to make the first massproduced parts using this method.

We can help you with the following:

• Screening and development of concepts for newautomotive applications
• Design of lightweight structures and integrated parts in the context of overall vehicle requirements, such as fatigue strength, crash, and corrosion requirements
• Validation of parts by means of simulation and component testing on the test stand and in crash tests

In the area of car manufacturing, costs can be significantly cut, production processes optimized, and work simplified using 3D printing. Simple plastic printers, for instance, allow workers to optimize the ergonomics of their equipment by themselves. The efficiency of expensive tools used for hot sheet metal forming or injection molding processes can also be optimized by means of 3D printing thanks to faster and more precise temperature control. This minimizes cycle times and cuts costs.

Examples of services:

• Identification, design and production of jigs, tools and gauges
• Simulation, design, and production of conformally cooled tools optimized for injection molding and hot sheet metal forming
• Repair or modification of tools by means of deposition welding

You can minimize costly warehouse stock by introducing additive manufacturing for spare parts. Print spare parts on demand with our support. The warehouse inventory of conventional spare parts can thus be reduced once a series has been discontinued, thereby minimizing the amount of capital tied up in stock. Parts no longer available for classic vehicles can also be reproduced in this way. Examples of services provided in the area of spare parts management:

• Digitalization, (re)designing, and printing of spare parts
• Development of data, material, and logistics concepts foryour additive spare parts management
• Qualification of printing and post-processing techniques for equivalent part and surface properties