Experts from the automotive and manufacturing technology industries came together at a workshop in November to learn more about the new possibilities of Metal Additive Manufacturing in series production.
Experts from the automotive industry came together in the GKN Sinter Metals InnovationCenter
GKN Sinter Metals invited experts to its Innovation Center in Radevormwald, which is also home to the MetalFAB1, the world’s first Additive Manufacturing machine in the automotive industry that enables series production of design-optimized parts for engines and transmissions.
Unique bundling of expertise and experience
GKN Sinter Metals invited the workshop participants to bring parts with them, either physically or virtually, to highlight both the technical and commercial aspects (pain points) of possible AM manufacturing in the framework of a “Part Screening”. The know-how provided by EOS GmbH, the global market and technology leader in the area of AM series production, perfectly complemented GKN Sinter Metals’ design and material expertise. “This bundling of expertise and experience is absolutely unique on a pioneer market that is changing so rapidly,” says Ümit Aydin.
The participants agreed: “The workshop was extremely well organized and provided genuine added value for potential users of Metal AM! In addition to the technical basics, the focus was on creating tools for application – oriented potential analysis of parts in terms of suitability for additive manufacturing and directly applying them”, said Thomas Meyer, Head of Engineering at HEGGEMANN AG.
The possibilities to positively influence volume and thus weight, handling and especially also price with stress optimization (topology optimization) and material selection are an important step towards using AM parts. For GKN Sinter Metals it is clear that the next AM Consulting Day will take place soon; it is already planned for the first quarter of 2017.
Anyone interested in participating can contact uemit.aydin@gkn.com. Early registration is recommended, as the number of participants is limited.
