Additive Manufacturing

In view of ever faster product development processes and shorter product life cycles, classic manufacturing processes are increasingly reaching their limits. Which is why it's even more important to rely on processes from the outset that can be adapted to other framework conditions at any time, even beyond the prototype stage, and therefore support flexible and rapid development and production.

Here, we'll give you an insight into our services regarding additive processes that can be considered for the development and realisation of your products.

‍Additive manufacturing, also known colloquially as 3D printing, describes all the manufacturing processes in which material is applied layer by layer to create three-dimensional objects.

The choice of materials has long since progressed beyond plastics. Metallic printing is also increasingly in demand, which means that the areas of application are almost inexhaustible. The most common processes are

• Fused Filament Fabrication (FFM)
• Stereolithography (SLA)
• Laser Beam Melting (LBM)
• Metal Binder Jetting (MBJ)

Completely new potential for product development, manufacturing and after-sales strategies is opening up thanks to the many application opportunities and new 3D printing-specific construction processes.

When it comes to the potential that additive manufacturing technologies offer in the product lifecycle, from concept to after-sales, most companies haven't even scratched the surface.

And yet, it ideally serves the goals that probably everyone is pursuing: faster, more effective processing of the costly development phase to bring the respective product to market as quickly as possible, and at least before the competition.

It is true that the prototype stage of a product can be reached very quickly thanks to improved knowledge management and global collaboration of partners and companies. However, classic manufacturing processes drastically reduce the speed at which you can go to market. For example, a prototype tool must first be created and, depending on the verification results, adapted several times before further steps can be taken. The same applies to a multitude of series productions, where several modifications to the tool are not uncommon.

For these applications, the world of additive manufacturing offers new solutions to further accelerate the product development process while maintaining quality.

Thinking further, additive manufacturing also offers great potential for the after-sales market. The overproduction and storage of components and parts, the necessary modification of series production plant for manufacturing spare parts and the storage and maintenance of tools are just a few examples of capital that is tied up and falling in value. Using a print-on-demand solution not only offers companies the opportunity to free themselves from this burden, but also to make the world a little greener by saving on large-scale storage space.

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With the integration of additive processes in product development, component properties can be optimised in an unprecedented way.

The challenge with classically designed products is their finite nature. Guidelines, design guides and assumptions about how to design components, the experience of the individual designer and limited human imagination all play a role.

This is exactly where generative design comes in. Generative design is a design exploration process in which the designer, together with artificial intelligence and various frameworks, can develop solutions to problems that couldn't be thought of before. It provides an opportunity to think more profoundly, allowing all the available design ideas to be compared and evaluated.

By incorporating artificial intelligence, the software can generate a wealth of design alternatives, test them, and learn what does and doesn't work in each iteration.

The combination of generative design and additive manufacturing becomes really interesting with new and unusual design ideas that would be unprofitable or even impossible using classic manufacturing processes.

From concept to implementation, newboxes helps you work out your agile additive manufacturing solution. Here's an overview of our four-step process: