Concept Launch new machine and plant architecture at formnext

formnext powered by tct has been the place to launch new machines and Concept Laser aren't booking that trend as they announce a new machine and plant architecture idea at the German show. 

The new, integrated machine concept under the heading of “AM Factory of Tomorrow” promises a new level of Additive Manufacturing in terms of quality, flexibility and increase in performance. The modular integration of the machine technology into the manufacturing environment is amazing thanks to a radically new approach in the design of process components. Ultimately, this makes faster and more economic industrial production solutions available. This vision will soon be reality: Concept Laser has announced a market launch by as early as the end of 2016.

The previous solutions for machine and plant technology in the market all relied on ideas such as “more laser sources,” “more laser power,” “faster build rates” or “expansion of the build envelope sizes.” The machine technology represented a “standalone” solution without any consistent integration into the manufacturing environment. Build job preparation and build job process proceeded sequentially. Concept Laser is now attempting, with a new machine architecture, to expand the usually quantitative sections with new, qualitative aspects. “In essence,” says Dr. Florian Bechmann, Head of R&D at Concept Laser, “it is about splitting up build job preparation/build job follow-up processing and Additive Manufacturing in any number of combinable modules. With comparatively large build envelopes, build jobs can be carried out with a time delay. The intention is that this should drastically reduce the “downtimes” of previous stand-alone machines. There is plenty of potential here for improving the level of added value in the production chain. In contrast to purely quantitative approaches of previous machine concepts, we see here a fundamentally new approach for advancing industrial series production one step further.”