This follows the implementation of its three-year Industrialisation and Digitalisation of Additive Manufacturing (IDAM) project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and led by the automotive manufacturer.
According to BMW, a digitally connected, fully automated 3D printing production line has been set up and prepared for automotive standard production at the German facility.
Plans are for around 50,000 components per year to be manufactured in common part production as well as more than 10,000 individual and new parts using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF).
The production line includes fully automated driverless transport systems (FTS) which can carry the 3D printers’ mobile build chambers between modules. The machines are orchestrated by a central control unit that consolidates all production data from individual line modules, BMW said. Quality assurance of the finished parts takes place in-line, during the laser melting process, using sensors, while AI algorithms are used to correlate the data collected with actual component quality, according to the company.
