BMW Group: Laying the foundations for the application of metal Additive Manufacturing in the automotive industry

For many years, automotive applications have been considered a somewhat out-of-reach target for the Additive Manufacturing industry. Suppliers, researchers and many in the wider investment community have been continually looking for the signs of success which signal the ‘coming of age’ of the AM industry. This is because production for the automotive industry is, by and large, on a scale equated with high-volume consumer products – so, if the technology is good enough for the manufacturing of automotive parts, it should follow that it would be good enough for a wide range of consumer-driven markets.

However, many are unaware that automotive companies have been the drivers of much of the core development behind the Additive Manufacturing technologies we have today – especially those used in polymer AM. Some of the early success in the use of polymers was naturally followed by interest in metal AM, and one company in particular that has been taking the lead in this respect is BMW.

BMW has been actively exploring Additive Manufacturing for more than three decades, but, in recent years, there has been a surge in activity to grow and develop the use of metal AM. This culminated with the official opening of its Additive Manufacturing Campus in Oberschleissheim, on the outskirts of Munich, in June 2020. The campus, on which development started in April 2018, was the result of an initial €15 million investment and had the stated aim of enabling the BMW Group to develop its position as a technology leader in the utilisation of Additive Manufacturing in the automotive industry.

When asked to picture a campus, most people would imagine leafy green open spaces with wooden benches for exchanging ideas and a building dedicated to education and the exploration of technology, with a focus on knowledge sharing and partnerships. Arriving at BMW’s AM campus, however, puts paid to that idea, with its large, modern industrial facility. It is meticulously laid out with office space, meeting rooms and, of course, a machine shop area.

A campus feel is, to an extent, maintained by the perfectly clean environment, which is divided into polymer and metal areas, each with zones for process and materials development, experimentation, and collaboration. The overwhelming impression is, however, that the campus is a stepping stone to production – a demonstration factory where the concept of AM production for the automotive industry is proven and optimised.

Our visit started with an introduction to the team whose job it is to make such an impressive facility stay that way, led by Jens Ertel, BMW company veteran and Director of the BMW Group Additive Manufacturing Campus. Ertel is supported by a management team that consists of Maximilian Meixlsperger, Head of Additive Manufacturing Production; Claudia Rackl, Head of Projects & Qualification in Additive Manufacturing; and Stefanus Bosch, Head of Additive Manufacturing Predevelopment and Planning (Fig. 2).

Additive Manufacturing is used across all four of BMW’s brands – BMW, Mini, Rolls-Royce, and BMW Motorrad – for both component production and to optimise vehicle manufacturing operations. Although not yet utilised in any mass-market cars, it is evident that metal AM parts have been produced, and are still being produced, for cars whose production runs number into the thousands.

Some of these applications have already been highly publicised over the years, such as the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) race car water pump wheels from 2015, produced by Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) (Fig. 3), and brackets for the soft-top opening mechanism of the BMW i8 Roadster, from 2017, also produced using PBF-LB. But don’t be fooled into thinking that any application developed in BMW’s AM campus is a ‘novelty’ part used to showcase its metal AM capabilities – far from it. The team at BMW stresses that any part that goes into production is far from a ‘PR effort,’ but rather the result of a deep dive into an application’s economic and technical feasibility. BMW only goes ahead with production using metal AM when and if there is a compelling cost benefit in doing so.

Building Additive Manufacturing knowledge

The campus supports BMW’s adoption of AM throughout its global operations and is used to build a culture of innovation that ensures designers and engineers understand how and when to leverage the technology’s opportunities. Employees travel to the campus to receive the training and skills to drive AM in their respective business units.

For BMW, as an experienced user of AM technologies, the campus represents a single centralised knowledge hub for everything Additive Manufacturing. The company is focused on creating a workforce that understands the opportunities that AM offers the business, and on the role of educating individuals at a product level about design, processes, materials properties, and economics.

Through the goal of establishing a deep understanding of AM and how the technology supports its business needs, BMW reveals itself to be very selective when deploying the technology within the group. The implementation model for the role of the AM campus is not about ‘going all out’ to find potential parts for production via AM and then producing the ‘low-hanging fruit,’ but about collaboration and development, experimentation on candidate AM technologies and materials, building the business case, and getting it right first time when the decision is made to go into production.

Having somewhere to explore the seemingly continuous development of AM technologies in isolation from the rest of its manufacturing operations provides BMW with the freedom to explore the real value of AM to the business and consider how this will evolve.

While it may still be true that metal AM is restricted to prototyping and small-series production, the decisions regarding when any given AM process will be suitable for standard high-volume technology will come from within the campus, in much the same way that decisions are made whether to use casting, forging, machining, etc.

Core metal AM technologies at BMW

What does BMW consider to be suitable metal AM technologies for the automotive industry right now? As we toured the machine shop area of the campus dedicated to metals, it became very clear that BMW’s primary focus is Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB). Series production is undertaken on machines from Nikon SLM Solutions; machines from other companies are also installed, notably Trumpf and Additive Industries, but the impression was that these were not used for series production. Of the machines from Nikon SLM Solutions at the campus, there is one SLM500-2 and two SLM500-4 machines, all equipped with 700 W lasers.

Whilst solely European AM machines are currently installed, at the campus, Ertel stated that machines from other world regions would be considered, but the expected levels of local service and support would need to be in place. “We are open to buying machines from overseas, if the availability of service and spare parts is locally organised and guaranteed.”

When it comes to series production, very few would argue against four lasers being better than two, but the choice of the configuration of the PBF-LB machines at BMW is the result of years of analysis. We witnessed the SLM500 machines, configured with 700 W lasers, being used for series production, with this configuration based on the increased productivity of higher power lasers. The team explained that it has been able to achieve higher build rates using 100 µm powder layers when combined with the higher power lasers, in contrast to the standard 50 µm layers. Additionally, building with one laser per part ensures that no defects are introduced by the stitching of laser scan patterns in any overlap regions, thereby giving full confidence that there has been no change in properties as the result of any double exposure.

Rather surprising was the surface finish that BMW is achieving with these builds when using 100 µm layers. It would have been a misguided decision to increase build speed only to introduce additional post-process requirements. Evidently, this is where some of the value of the work carried out at the campus extends. It has allowed the team to precisely determine the correct design and post-processing requirements.

Further improvements in the speed and productivity of PBF-LB are expected to come from developments in beam shaping technologies. Funded by Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz), the Autobeam project sees BMW, Trumpf, Oerlikon Surface Solutions, and Technische Universität Darmstadt working together on the industrialisation of beam shaping technologies. “The aim is to leverage higher production rates and lower costs per part (€/cm³) through PBF-LB processes within the automotive industry. By reducing the cost of AM parts, more topology-optimised lightweight components can be used in vehicles in the future, saving energy and CO² emissions in its life cycle,” stated Maximilian Binder, Technology Scouting AM at BMW Group.

A focus on AlSi10Mg

Materials selection is always going to be one of the most important considerations for any commercial vehicle manufacturer. Like many other industries, the automotive sector continues to struggle with the availability of qualified data for candidate alloys. One of the key roles of the campus has, therefore, been obtaining the necessary data.

All PBF-LB production parts made at the campus are produced from just one alloy – AlSi10Mg. However, in recognising that this alloy cannot fulfil all of BMW’s needs, other aluminium alloys are under active development. Ertel stated, “In the past there were developments to understand which material was best suited, comparing alloys such as AlSi7Mg, AlSi9Cu3, AlSi12, based on the components that were needed. This resulted in the use of AlSi10Mg. Today, through process control and the heat treatment of this core alloy, we are able to modulate the material properties to behave like other conventional alloys.”
Beyond this – and apart from maraging steel (DIN 1.2709) that is used in a limited way for part and tooling applications – there has been no significant demand or interest in other common automotive alloys (e.g. Mg alloys).

Automating the process

There can be no series metal AM parts production without the necessary post-processing to finish parts and manage materials handling. At the BMW campus, post-process automation has been a topic of considerable development. The Industrialisation and Digitalisation of Additive Manufacturing (IDAM) project, which ran from 2019 to 2022 and was led by BMW as part of a consortium of twelve companies, helped the company to automate much of its PBF-LB operations, improving efficiencies and, in turn, making the production of further metal AM parts far more likely.

In particular, the IDAM project resulted in a very impressive Volkmann installation at the campus that connects PBF-LB machines to a single centralised powder recovery and reconditioning unit (Fig. 6). Pipework to and from each AM machine passes overhead across the main thoroughfare of the workshop, thus demonstrating that shifting metal powders over quite significant distances is no longer a barrier to the future industrialisation of metal AM.

Similarly, post-processing of the actual build plate starts with de-powdering. For this, there is another semi-automated workstation that is capable of accepting any configuration of build box, potentially from any type of PBF-LB machine.

A fully automated driverless transport systems (FTS) is currently under development with the goal of moving AM build chambers between modules in the IDAM production lines (Fig. 7). Builds can also be transferred directly to the in-house heat treatment facility, housed within the same campus building, and subsequently to further finishing cells. All in all, this was a very impressive setup that demonstrated a full end-to-end production process.

The successful implementation of the IDAM project, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), leveraged the expertise of all project partners. “From the very first day of the project, you could feel the team spirit among the partners,” stated Felix Haeckel, Consortium Leader and BMW Group Project Manager. “Learning from one another, developing innovative solutions together and making the best use of each partner’s individual strengths – those were key to successful industrialisation and digitalisation of Additive Manufacturing.”

When discussing what BMW would most like to see from AM machine builders in the future, the immediate response was compatibility. Having ‘universal’ machine interfaces enables process automation on the factory floor. The clear message was that AM machine makers should focus on their strengths – the build process itself – and leave those with the necessary expertise to develop solutions to connect and automate all of the other steps required in an efficient AM factory. Furthermore, it was stated improvements in availability, build speed and build size would be welcomed.

Post-process heat treatment

One critical goal in AM application development is the achievement of reliable and consistent materials properties in production parts. As a crucial requirement in the qualification of parts, BMW needed to find new heat treatment processes that could transform as-built properties to exactly match those of conventionally produced material, since any with different properties would invalidate existing design data.

In this respect, it was the team’s analysis that made them come to the conclusion that it is far easier to make materials match known properties and performance than to introduce new data. No wonder then that the facility comes equipped with its own in-house heat treatment facility for aluminium alloys, with drop quenching and age-hardening furnaces.

With regards to process qualification in AM, Ertel stated, “Our approach to generic process qualification is published via ISO/ASTM DIS 52945, and safety-critical components have additional testing, but they are no different to parts produced by conventional processes.”

Parts development and supply chain considerations

Naturally, one wonders how far off the commercial supply chain is from using metal AM technologies to produce parts that can meet BMW’s needs. The team responded that one of the reasons that they exist is because the supply chain is not ready to produce economical parts, and, even if this weren’t the case, there are currently insufficient applications in production to warrant this.

That part design and production methods are fixed when homologation occurs prior to production has been a barrier to the wider use of AM. For those unfamiliar with the term ‘homologation’, this is the process that all car manufacturers must follow in order to be granted approval for their design by the regulatory authority. It is a meticulous process that ensures all products meet the required standards and regulations for aspects such as safety and environmental impact. So, once locked in, nothing can change on the series until a new design iteration. This then places a restriction on any common parts manufacturer from using AM to modify any existing parts used in current models, since they cannot simply choose to start making parts via AM and expect to have the major car brands start using those parts.

The process must start early on in a new model’s lifecycle, either from within the car company – such as within BMW’s Oberschleissheim campus – or in parallel with the specific expected external supplier. Being a long process, it doesn’t necessarily depend on the readiness of external suppliers alone. However, it was made very clear that this would also not happen if there wasn’t a strong business case to use AM over other traditional processes.

BMW recently announced that it produced around 300,000 AM parts in 2023 at the AM campus, with a further 100,000 parts produced at other facilities worldwide. Ertel explained that the split between plastic and metal is about 90:10. In the minds of many who have worked in the AM industry for a decade or more, reaching tens of thousands of metal AM parts in a year has always seemed like a ‘just around the corner’ scenario. To those who say that the technology isn’t ready for mass production, 30,000 or so metal parts per year is not a quantity to be dismissed. Of course, in the context of the automotive industry, these are small numbers, but the progress is welcome. And given that all these AM parts are only produced by BMW when it makes financial sense, it should be taken as the necessary proof that the technology is mass-production ready.

In order to manage AM application development and orders for the whole group, parts are logged within an ordering system called AM.OS. This bespoke solution connects the BMW Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system with its AM production network.

The potential of DED in automotive production

The size limitations of PBF-LB had limited the development of larger AM parts at BMW. While ever bigger PBF-LB machines are coming to market, their price and complexity, combined with the high cost of the powder needed to fill them, pushes their use towards specialised, high- value applications. This was one of the drivers behind BMW’s decision to explore Wire Arc Directed Energy Deposition (DED) AM.

A DED machine from Dutch company MX3D looms impressively in an area set aside for pre-development (Fig. 9). It is clearly relatively early days for BMW in its evaluation of DED but, nonetheless, impressive work has been carried out. Unsurprisingly, much of the actual R&D activity is a closely guarded secret; the black-shrouded area was very conspicuous.

With DED technology, BMW is taking the logical step towards large-format metal Additive Manufacturing. The process allows BMW to produce parts that are lighter and more rigid than comparable die-cast parts currently manufactured in series production. These components can also be produced more sustainably thanks to lower energy requirements and less material waste.

Typical DED wall thicknesses are well-suited to components in the body, drive, and chassis areas. Whilst BMW has been looking at the DED process since 2015, MX3D’s machine was installed in 2021. “In this early stage it is already clear that the WAAM [Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing, an alternative name for wire/arc DED] process can result in lower emissions in the production process. The lower weight of the components, their advantageous materials usage ratio, and the option to use renewable energy means that the components can be produced more efficiently,” stated Ertel.

The next stage of development on the path to series production is testing components in the vehicle; this will start in the near future. In relation to the example chassis part shown in Figs. 9-11, minimal post-processing was a high priority: the team at BMW fully recognises the importance of only using a cutting tool on an AM part in the most minimal way possible.

The wider welding seams in the DED process mean that the surfaces of components are rippled rather than smooth. Whilst critical areas such as those that connect with other components need to be machined, BMW has demonstrated that DED components can be used for high loads, including cyclical loads, without any post-treatment of the surface. Optimised process parameters are crucial for ensuring durability directly from production, so the combination of the welding process and robotic path planning must be optimally coordinated.

To maximise the potential of the DED process, the combination of the manufacturing process and innovative new component design is paramount. To this end, the BMW Group continues to accelerate the use of generative design, utilising algorithms to design optimised components based on specific requirements. These algorithms are developed in close collaboration with interdisciplinary teams.

As with bionic structures, the first step is to use only the material that is actually required for the topology of the component; during fine-tuning in the second step, the component is reinforced only where necessary. This ultimately results in lighter and more rigid components as well as greater efficiency and improved vehicle dynamics.

“It’s impressive to see how WAAM technology has developed from research to become a flexible tool for not only test components but also series production components. The use of generative design methods enables us to make full use of design freedom and, thus, the potential of the technology. That was unthinkable just a few years ago,” stated Karol Virsik, Head of BMW Group Vehicle Research.

BMW’s stated aim is to use components manufactured using the DED process in BMW Group production vehicles. Given the faster build speeds and significantly lower cost of DED wire compared to metal powders for PBF-LB, it will be interesting to see how DED develops as a potential high-volume technology for large automotive chassis components, in contrast to, for example, the large-format PBF-LB components used by companies such as Czinger Vehicles in the US.

Centralised DED production will take place at the Oberschleissheim AM campus, though future production at other locations – and the use of the technology by suppliers – is possible. Further, it would even be conceivable to produce individual components on-demand directly on the assembly line using this process. During our visit, a further interesting point was made when it was said that non-AM engineering teams appeared to be far more at ease with DED than PBF-LB because of the widespread use of robotics and welding in BMW’s wider operations.

Other metal AM technologies

But what of other metal AM technologies? BMW was quick to recognise the potential of Binder Jetting (BJT) technology, resulting in an early investment in Desktop Metal in 2017 through BMW iVentures. However, no Binder Jetting machines remain at the campus, being discontinued due to the early state of the technology and limited material portfolio at the time. Ertel commented, “There is still interest in this technology, but the decision to use it for producing parts has to be based on the right economic business model, and the right selection of parts. It’s possible that those that supply into BMW might find more opportunities for this technology, but it hasn’t been the case for us up to now.”

As for other metal technologies on the market, he added, “Technology scouting is part of our pre-development, but no other processes are currently considered mature enough, economical enough, or even close enough from a logistics point of view. We are constantly screening for new AM metal technologies on the market and invest strategically whenever we see high potential.”

Critical areas of focus

The automotive sector is a highly regulated market, and the adoption of AM technologies has been slowed by a lack of standards, process automation that can provide data-led production qualification, and other quality aspects of each type of AM process. This lack of regulatory standards for AM was one of the drivers behind the establishment of the AM campus, allowing BMW to do a lot of its own investigations and assessments on the possible quality outcomes from AM.

In a world that expects to receive fully finished parts with machined surfaces, BMW has been questioning whether it is possible to build metal AM parts with no – or at the very least minimal – post-process machining. Is the surface finish really that critical? The brackets made for the i8 Roadster (Fig. 12) are a great example of the successes they have achieved in this area. The part is easily removed from the build plate without any wire EDM or sawing operation, and simply tumbled to smooth the surfaces. Apart from some laser marking, that’s all that was required to produce the finished parts. Rather incredibly, this part, manufactured as a left and right pair in AlSi10Mg, was lighter than the alternative plastic part thanks to the use of topology optimisation.

Sure, when you look at any of these parts very closely, you can see a lot of surface texture. You can clearly identify the downskin build surfaces, but BMW knows that this is unimportant in this application, especially for a part that is mostly unseen. Better still, through the work at the AM campus, the team has proven that it doesn’t impact performance.

The next area that is clearly a concern for BMW is cost of production. There is no doubt that they believe there is still a lot to be done in order to make these technologies viable, but machine prices and cost of feedstock materials are still a significant barrier to higher volume production, even without restrictions from a homologated design. Designs combining the functionality of multiple parts, or avoiding complex assembly operations, are already a reality. BMW is taking a cautious approach here and obviously only considering parts on new models where design engineers are able to consolidate parts via AM and fulfil the main criteria of reducing overall cost.

One question that those unfamiliar with metal AM often ask – especially of PBF-LB – is whether AM parts can be welded. It is a curious question to ask, really, considering that fusion-based metal powder AM is really little more than continuous micro-welding. There have certainly been no problems with welding AM parts at BMW either (Fig. 14). Used on the production line of at least one Rolls-Royce model are additively manufactured structural aluminium car body bracket plates, produced in multiple left and right geometries that are welded to the body.

Welding, of course, features heavily in car production, and the team at BMW explained how metal AM for Rapid Prototyping (RP) is as valuable a tool as ever. One interesting example is where metal AM was used to study the manufacturability of a new motorbike frame. Here, they had even replicated the artificial weld beads that would be part of the frame when it is fabricated from extruded steel pipe sections. It’s a use of AM that we’ve not seen before and probably would never have imagined – and that’s even with the years of experience providing parts to the F1 sector, and, in particular, the wind tunnel test teams, where RP is also still very commonplace.

Additively manufactured sand cores for castings

Whilst not a metal AM part per se, an impressive application that we saw on the tour was a very large robotic gripper tool, cast in aluminium using additively manufactured sand cores for the castings. Through the use of AM, and the design advantages it enabled, BMW reduced the weight of this main body gripper by a factor of three to just 50 kg.

Interestingly, at the same time as seeing this in metal, we were presented with another similar-sized AM polymer-composite gripper. These are important achievements, and ones that often go completely overlooked – certainly never targeted by other companies as they try to imagine what benefit AM could have to their own businesses. The message coming out of BMW is that they view tooling and process improvements that can be achieved through AM as being equally as important as trying to make parts better and or cheaper via AM – perhaps even more important.

The supply chain

No car manufacturer can claim to be a 100% vertically integrated company with the entire assembly bill of materials coming from within its own four walls. Hence, as with the majority of the industrial world, each company relies on a supply chain to deliver what it needs to build its cars.

Even though companies like BMW have been preparing for the changes that AM brings, does that mean its supply chain is positioned to respond to future requirements? The answer to this question is not straightforward. As stated previously, because of the homologated design, no car producer can simply switch to an AM parts supplier for any existing components on a car already in production. This means that the design of future car models calling specifically for AM parts will be the catalyst for the supply chain to deliver. For this, at least, BMW does have standard practices for qualifying suppliers; if they were to need a sub-contracted AM service or part, then the process would not be any different.

In terms of the wider car industry, if the old cliché ‘a rising tide lifts all vessels’ is true, then perhaps greater cross-sector collaboration may see the accelerated adoption of AM as a series production technology. This may mean more direct engagement with tier suppliers and other car makers. A problem arises, however, when considering that this is a notoriously secretive sector about its development work, and BMW is no exception in this respect. However, the team was quick to point out they do not have a closed-door policy for collaboration. “In principle, we are open to cooperation with plant manufacturers, standardisation bodies and other industrial partners as well as universities,” explained Ertel.

This further underlines the importance of understanding the restriction of only being able to plan for the incorporation of AM parts in newer models, and only where it makes economic sense to do so. This permits a longer-term vision that is enhanced, though not controlled, by AM – and this also means conventional manufacturing will still be in use for a very long time.

Looking ahead, whilst the wider AM community faces with some nervousness the challenge of developing new, high-volume applications for the technology, it is good to know that BMW sees the role of metal Additive Manufacturing continuing to grow in importance. But there is still work to be done, especially around cost. Ertel said, “It is important to understand that Additive Manufacturing is another manufacturing process in the toolbox, complementing other technologies rather than replacing them. Additive Manufacturing is always used when there is an advantage in terms of time, cost and quality. Whether Additive Manufacturing will continue to grow as a technology for series production depends on various factors, and one of the most important factors is the reduction in material and production costs.”

This highlights probably the most common factor for any industry wishing to adopt AM technology and make the most of the investment: How can it be made economical enough to displace conventional manufacturing? It’s no surprise that the largest given cost factors are the machine and raw material. Typically, the former is handled with longer-term amortisation of the assets, but there’s a nervous response to this when the world is used to rapid changes in technology.

No one knows if any machine will still be considered state-of-the-art after even two years, let alone ten. This does perhaps explain why there are so few other AM technologies on display or in active service at the campus. Knowing that the 700 W laser machines are suitable for aluminium parts, BMW needs to maximise the return from these machines first, across the limited range of cars within the four brands that are using AM parts, before investing in other technologies.

However, one area that has already resulted in significant reductions in cost is the use of software, particularly in the design of components. Ertel emphasised BMW’s approach, “In the case of series components, and parts for other areas of the production system, the geometry is always optimised in terms of weight and manufacturability. This saves weight/material and thus also reduces production time and costs.” Thus the advances in software-supported design, and the choice of applications that now include sophisticated simulation routines, have enabled the economic use of Additive Manufacturing at the BMW Additive Manufacturing Campus.

A team of design and engineering specialists compares a variety of software solutions and uses them to design components. Software has clearly been a game changer, and it was stated, “Software is no longer a limiting factor; in fact, the better the software becomes, the faster and better components can be optimised.”

Conclusions

The BMW AM Campus has clearly been a successful investment for the company, where it houses its biggest concentration of AM equipment and expertise. Even so, BMW has eight locations globally practising AM, in countries including Mexico and the US, with over 200 machines covering both plastics and metals technologies.

Might we see similar campuses spring up in any one of these other territories? This would take a special set of circumstances, and Ertel was quick to explain it would be highly dependent on having access to locally supplied AM technology. Ultimately, the expansion of this campus or any other site depends on the increased needs of the rest of the group. Ertel stated, “We are seeing continuous and annual growth in Additive Manufacturing applications and the production of AM parts, including metal parts. This growth is the result of several factors that are driving the use of Additive Manufacturing.”

In exploring these factors, it was stated that Additive Manufacturing is becoming increasingly accessible, becoming part of product development activity. Knowledge about the technology is also increasing, and the capabilities of AM processes are constantly being optimised, guaranteeing the test-relevant properties in functional validation. Combined, these factors will increase the demand for Additive Manufacturing applications and the production of AM components.

The usefulness of Additive Manufacturing in the automotive sector is very much being proven on a daily basis at BMW’s AM campus as well as BMW’s plant in Landshut. While the level of activity is still low compared to mainstream road car production lines, with AM part runs numbering into the thousands and tens of thousands annually, the business case to make parts for a few of the higher-end models has led to a significant production capability. Certainly, many more parts are being made per year than in many other industry sectors and this should be viewed as a universal positive.

Further information

Benedikt Torka
Corporate and Governmental Affairs
BMW Group
[email protected]
www.bmwgroup.com

Authors

Dr Martin McMahon
Technical Consultant, Metal AM magazine, and founder of MAM Solutions.
[email protected]

Nick Williams
Managing Editor
Metal AM magazine
[email protected]