Innovationsdialog Additive Fertigung in Jena, Germany

Additive manufacturing has apparent advantages. Despite these, the technology is not universally adopted. The innovation dialogue additive manufacturing explored why this is so in an event called “Are you already printing or still milling?”*

A key take-away from the event was milling and 3D printing do not exclude each other. Both forms of production, additive and subtractive, should be used complementarily to add best value. Additive manufacturing uses materials efficiently and eliminates long lead times typically associated with creating moulds, casts and finished parts in specific materials, allowing direct-to-manufacture production. A definite plus – acknowledged by all.

Missing information about concrete capabilites

The participants also agreed that the process chain of additive manufacturing was highly fragmented and complex. This results in an asymmetry of information between suppliers and users. Moreover, those who are interested in using the technology, often lack time and knowledge about what is already possible with additive manufacturing. Missing confidence in the stability of additive manufacturing processes are another factor which discourages companies from adopting 3D printing.

Innovation at your fingertips – not only at this event

Additive manufacturing is a future-proof technology

Prof Jens Bliedtner of Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena presented the latest advancements in additive manufacturing. One notable trend is the shift from filament-based to granulate-based printing, a more cost-effective option than filament-based printing.

Lars Boehnisch (Evonik Venture Capital) presented Evonik’s approach to additive manufacturing.

In their keynote, Sylvia Monsheimer from Evonik High Performance Polymers and Lars Boehnisch from Evonik Venture Capital pointed out that successfully 3D printed parts require more than just good hardware and the correct material. A proper understanding of the entire process and value chain is highly commendable when considering additive manufacturing.

Tom Schubert from Werkzeug-Eylert GmbH & Co. KG illustrated additive manufacturing from the perspective of the manufacturing industry. He declared additive manufacturing the fourth industrial revolution and highlighted that individual mass production was only made possible with 3D printing. Ronny Bernstein from BMF GmbH complemented his keynote with a presentation of their solution for 3D printing in machine construction. Both pointed out that additive manufacturing technology made the production line a lot more flexible than conventional manufacturing. They also see established SMEs have some blind spots when it comes to 3D printing, which will require some pioneering work to be lit up.

From 6-axis printing to the 5-axis slicer to the advantages of 3D printing

To translate the keynotes into practice, Dominik Fleischhacker from ADAXIS, Jan Schuurmans fromDotX Control Solutions and Markus May from 3Faktur presented three use cases.

Dominik Fleischhacker showed various possibilities to turn a robot into a 3D printer. With its software platform, ADAXIS makes it easy to use the power of 6-axis robotic additive manufacturing. Jan Schuurmans presented 3D printing of metal. For this, DotX Control Solutions developed a 5-axis slicer software which the layer generation allows even curved layers. Markus May concluded with his presentation “Why (not) 3D printing?”, showing the advantages of 3D printing in the realm of unit cost, production time, quality and process.

Discussions about additive manufacturing

The afternoon was dedicated to interactive sessions and networking. Participants engaged in in-depth discussions on strategy, operations, decision-making and future research. In a world café conversation format, participants exchanged ideas and thoughts and established new connections.

Sylvia Monsheimer brought some printed items with her to illustrate the possibilities of additive manufacturing

As a special highlight, guests were given a tour of Prof Jens Bliedtner’s numerous 3D printing labs as well as a sneak preview of the new StartUpLab at the Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena.

About Innovationsdialog

Innovationsdialog, German for innovation dialogue, brings together a range of perspectives on one focus topic. Nucleus Jena and EIT Manufacturing invite representatives from science, economy, innovation and politics to discuss their challenges and needs as well as their solutions to develop new ideas. Besides sharing knowledge, enabling new connections between representatives of the different disciplines is an important part of the event series. Hosted by Nucleus Jena and EIT Manufacturing, the above event took place at Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena, Germany, on 28 April 2023.

From left to right: Marcel Drescher (Nucleus Jena), Jan Schuurmans (DotX Control Solutions), Tom Schubert (Werkzeug Eylert), Dominik Fleischhacker (ADAXIS), Lars Böhnisch (Evonik Venture Capital), Sylvia Monsheimer (Evonik High Performance Polymers), Markus May (3Faktur), Prof. Jens Bliedtner (Ernst Abbe Hochschule Jena), Silvia Grätz & Katharina Opitz (EIT Manufacturing)

*German-language event “Innovationsdialog Additive Fertigung: Fräst Du noch oder druckst Du schon?“