Industrial 3D printing software developer, 3YOURMIND has unveiled how German railway company, Deutsche Bahn (DB) is leveraging its software to expand its use of additive manufacturing (AM).
Since 2015, DB has been applying 3D printing technologies from companies such as BigRep for the production of thousands of parts and set itself a goal of printing around 15,000 replacement parts and other AM components by the end of last year.
Using 3YOURMIND’s software, DB now wants to allow its employees to propose potential 3D printing applications using a simple digital interface that standardises the submission process and identifies the strongest results. The AM Part Identifier software, which allows users to automatically check a part's feasibility for 3D printing, provides DB with an analysis of the ideas and identifies the use cases with the highest production potential. A team of experts from DB will then select the best projects to move into production and provide recognition to the submitter.
The efforts are being led by a company-wide “3D printing employee challenge” which is designed to educate employees about 3D printing and bring together ideas from across the DB network.
The news builds on 3YOURMIND’s ongoing strategic partnership with DB which aims to accelerate the company’s industrial 3D production and move towards a fully digital spare parts warehouse. This digital inventory will tackle challenges with obsolete parts, particularly common in trains that are over 25 years old, and reduce vehicle downtime.
