Behind the scenes at Fraunhofer's Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing

by

Just as I set about typing this story up from my notes I happened to be watching the news, it is reporting the closure of several steelworks in Britain as one of the last bastions of British manufacturing crumbles under the weight of a marketplace that has seen the price of a tonne of steel fall below that of a tonne of cabbages. As I headed to the opening of the Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing (ACAM) it was German industry that was taking a blow as the controversy surrounding VW’s erroneous emissions escalated.

Yet, judging by the presentations and exhibitions throughout the day, Germany is already preparing for an industry that may look very different in several years time, they call it “Industrie 4.0” and ACAM is a living, breathing example of the country’s forward thinking when it comes to its manufacturing base.

ACAM is a strategic partnership between German organisations such as Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology, Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and KEX Knowledge Exchange. Its aim is to explore the opportunities that additive technologies afford towards industry 4.0 by embedding machine suppliers, software engineers, research fellows and users into a campus culture in order to further advance Germany’s standing in advanced manufacturing.

An example of what can be achieved using a collaborative approach like this is the e.GO StreetScooter electric car that was developed at the logistics cluster campus at RWTH Aachen University. Prof. Günther Schuh, member of the board of directors, Fraunhofer IPT, is very proud of the achievement in a debut automotive outing:

“We wanted to prove that it is possible even in a high-wage country like Germany, to have a purpose designed electrical car that has lower total cost of ownership than a traditional car with a combustion engine,” said Prof. Schuh as he addressed the crowd. “Around 30% of the prototype pieces in the development process were additively manufactured. We reduced the development time, even though we are not experienced car manufacturers, by around 50% and even more important the overall investment including the production line was €34m. An established car company would spend €300 - €400m to achieve the same thing.”

Many of the additive industry’s big players were at the launch of centre including SLM Solutions and Concept Laser, two German machine manufacturers, who are set to benefit from the ACAM campus concept. ACAM aims to help manufacturing companies – from large concerns via medium-sized companies down to small enterprises – employ the additive manufacturing method usefully and profitably for their production processes. This will not only help out manufacturing companies but the machine makers themselves, in particular those aforementioned.

Get your FREE print subscription to TCT Magazine.

Exhibit at the UK's definitive and most influential 3D printing and additive manufacturing event, TCT 3Sixty.

“The campus concept means we as researchers want to allow the leaders of industry, to guide us,” explained Prof. Schuh. “To give us the relevant research questions instead of what academia typically does; defining the research topics and questions alone.”

This is, in fact, what the Fraunhofer institutes have always done so well in Germany; linked research to industry in order to protect and enhance manufacturing since 1949. Institutes like the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry, UK, show that we, here in Britain, are attempting to replicate those methods but with a dilapidated ship-building industry and a collapsing steelworks one does wonder if this is a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.