Siemens expands Additive Manufacturing offerings on Xcelerator Marketplace, showcases innovations at Formnext
November 19, 2024
At Formnext, Siemens and a number of selected partners are showcasing how Additive Manufacturing serves as an innovation enabler for industrial applications, driven by a robust ecosystem, digitalisation, and automation, under the motto “Let’s advance manufacturing.” The Siemens Xcelerator strategy emphasises the importance of innovation and technology partnerships as well as open, interoperable technologies.
These are essential when it comes to facilitating the integration of AM into conventional manufacturing technologies, meeting standardised quality and safety requirements, and accelerating the scaling of AM solutions. As a result, Siemens is bringing Additive Manufacturing offerings from additional partners to the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace.
New offerings on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace
LEAM Technologies offers large format Additive Manufacturing with light-based welding technology. In collaboration with CEAD, a long-standing partner of Siemens, LEAM Technologies is opening up completely new possibilities in Additive Manufacturing. By using light to heat the material, LEAM enables extreme mechanical strength, even in difficult-to-manufacture materials. This is of particular interest for applications in industries such as aerospace, defence, and energy. A temperature monitoring system from LEAM enables real-time temperature control during the Additive Manufacturing process.
The edge-based solution, which is now available on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace, continuously checks and regulates the temperature monitoring system from LEAM enables real-time temperature control during the Additive Manufacturing process. The edge-based solution, which is now available on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace, continuously checks and regulates the temperature at every position of the component to improve the quality of the printed parts. With LEAM, manufacturers can make their production processes more efficient, improve product quality, and reduce reject rates at the same time.
VLM Robotics, builder of XXL manufacturing machines, offers innovative and turnkey solutions for the railway, shipbuilding, aerospace, and energy industries. At Formnext, VLM Robotics will debut its new model CALYPSO, a fully automated autonomous mobile robotic solution based on Sinumerik One, Sinumerik CNC Robotics, and Simove for the first time, in addition to its well-known CNC robotics machines. Its GEMINI machine for XXL hybrid Additive Manufacturing will also be on display at the booth. VLM Robotics hybrid robotic solutions can perform Directed Energy Deposition manufacturing, Cold Spray manufacturing, welding, control and milling tasks.
VLM Robotics’ range of CNC robotic machines can be seamlessly integrated into the production environment, enabling agile repair and production work on large components. Digital threads play a vital role in this, as they are end-to-end digital twins of all data and information across the entire lifecycle of a product, machine, and process, enabling seamless integration and transparency from development to disposal. The complexity of controlling a highly scalable multi-technology robotic machine while meeting high precision and quality requirements requires a high level of industry, automation, and digitalisation expertise. VLM Robotics is now represented on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace, where it offers customised digital solutions that enable the seamless integration and tracking of all relevant data and information throughout the entire production lifecycle.
Additive Manufacturing with Siemens technology paves the way to circular economy
Additive Manufacturing is also an important enabler of the circular economy. Designing products so that they can be reused, recycled, or safely returned to the environment at the end of their lifecycle promotes a sustainable value chain, reduces waste, and conserves resources. Product design plays a vital role in this since 80% of the environmental impact is determined in the design phase. Siemens relies on industrial AI and the industrial metaverse to generate optimised designs and enable automated, intelligent workflows. Thanks to Siemen’s solutions, Toolcraft, for instance, can improve the design and engineering process for components by 30% for new designs and 85% for design modifications.
Haddy is revolutionising furniture manufacturing with advanced Additive Manufacturing and robotics, producing high-quality, sustainable products at a low cost and on a commercial scale. Haddy is building a global network of local micro factories equipped with hybrid Flexbot systems from CEAD and recycling units that shorten the supply chain and help the environment by reducing waste. By collecting detailed data during the manufacturing process, the company is able to continuously optimise its robots for greater speed, accuracy, and efficiency. Committed to environmental responsibility, Haddy uses only renewable, recyclable materials. It also introduces a truly circular system for its products through Haddy Inside RFID chips and a scalable cloud API solution, allowing for responsible material tracing and recycling, enabling sustainable production and significantly reducing its environmental footprint.
AM I Navigator expands to include Stratasys
With Stratasys as a further partner, the AM I Navigator is entering the next round. Since the launch of the initiative in November 2023, the framework has been continuously refined and updated with concrete application examples. With its framework, the AM I Navigator provides a structured approach to defining the current status and the steps toward the target of industrialised Additive Manufacturing. It builds on established frameworks for digital manufacturing, such as the Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI), which helps companies to assess their current level of digitalisation and readiness for Industry 4.0 and to develop strategies for the modernisation of their production processes.
