Photo: BMW
3D printing is gaining increased traction in automotive manufacturing. The process is quick and relatively cheap, allowing for high-quality parts to be made with ease.
There are several automakers currently using this process in their manufacturing efforts, but none seem as determined to make 3D printing an integral part of the production process as BMW. At least, none of them are talking as much about it as BMW.
The Bavarians said this week that in the ten years since they use 3D printing they have produced a total of one million car parts. Some of them go into the i8, as did part one million, a window guide rail.
With an average of 100,000 part 3D printed per year, BMW says in 2018 they might even cross the 200,000 marks, almost double the size of last year’s accomplishment.
“The use of components made by additive manufacturing in series production of vehicles is increasing particularly strongly at the moment,” said in a statement Jens Ertel, the man in charge with 3D printing at BMW.
“We are following the development and application of advanced these manufacturing methods very closely indeed, partly through longstanding cooperations with leading manufacturers in the field.”
Internally, BMW calls the process additive manufacturing, and so much trust the company puts in the process that back in April it announced it will invest over ten million euros ($12.3 million) into the creation of a new facility dedicated to this process.
The new campus, located north of Munich in Oberschleissheim, will concentrate the entire scope of its efforts in this field, from research to production. The location will become a pilot plant for the production of 3D-printed parts that will range from prototypes to series and customized parts.
Customization is an important aspect of BMW’s research into this field, and the Germans seem to be after offering their customers the possibility of designing some of their car’s parts on their own, like in the MINI Yours Customized service.
The Bavarians said this week that in the ten years since they use 3D printing they have produced a total of one million car parts. Some of them go into the i8, as did part one million, a window guide rail.
With an average of 100,000 part 3D printed per year, BMW says in 2018 they might even cross the 200,000 marks, almost double the size of last year’s accomplishment.
“The use of components made by additive manufacturing in series production of vehicles is increasing particularly strongly at the moment,” said in a statement Jens Ertel, the man in charge with 3D printing at BMW.
“We are following the development and application of advanced these manufacturing methods very closely indeed, partly through longstanding cooperations with leading manufacturers in the field.”
Internally, BMW calls the process additive manufacturing, and so much trust the company puts in the process that back in April it announced it will invest over ten million euros ($12.3 million) into the creation of a new facility dedicated to this process.
The new campus, located north of Munich in Oberschleissheim, will concentrate the entire scope of its efforts in this field, from research to production. The location will become a pilot plant for the production of 3D-printed parts that will range from prototypes to series and customized parts.
Customization is an important aspect of BMW’s research into this field, and the Germans seem to be after offering their customers the possibility of designing some of their car’s parts on their own, like in the MINI Yours Customized service.
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