- APWorks and SAP Aim to Transform the Manufacturing Supply Chain with 3D Printing
Taufkirchen, July 13, 2016: APWorks announced the signing of a co-innovation agreement with SAP, which aims to accelerate the adoption and standardization of industrial 3D printing initiatives for the aerospace and defense industry. This announcement was made at the Farnborough International Airshow being held July 11–17 in Hampshire, England.
APWorks will to use the 3D printing services recently announced by SAP to operate a bionics network that connects 3D printing experts and end users. These services will allow APWorks to manufacture 3D printed components such as armrests and brackets, improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. APWorks can also better manage spare part orders in real time to deliver qualified products for safety-critical applications in aerospace and other industries.
The co-innovation agreement between SAP and APWorks plans to address the following areas:
- Digitalization and simplification of the production part approval process
- Screening and validating parts for using the 3D printing process
- Designing and redesigning of a part or system to optimize for on-demand manufacturing and 3D printing
- Accelerating and standardizing the processes for certifying the manufacturing of parts by 3D printing firms
- Securing an on-demand budgetary price for manufacturing firms to evaluate 3D printing parts versus traditional manufacturing, including cost components such as tax and warehousing, using the SAP® Product Lifecycle Costing solution
- Covering each stage from production floor to customer door — for seamless routing of the order
3D printing is now moving beyond industrial prototyping and into manufacturing industries using multiple materials including metals, plastics and ceramics, which is helping to reinvent the manufacturing supply chain. Therefore SAP will extend its supply chain solutions to include collaboration and certification cloud service for industrial 3D printing, as well as an on-demand 3D printing manufacturing network. These services intend to deliver manufacturing and logistical cost savings, reduce CO2 emissions and eliminate complex supply chain issues.
“The ability to 3D print all the possible components of an A350 aircraft could reduce the weight of it by nearly a ton,” said Joachim Zettler, CEO of APWorks. “On-demand 3D printing cloud service from SAP can help us to develop our vision for distributed, on-demand production of aerospace components and still meet the high quality standards necessary to make the aircraft fly.”
“Innovation in on-demand 3D printing is now revolutionizing traditional manufacturing,” said Torsten Welte, global head of Aerospace and Defense Industry, SAP. “In the next few years 3D printing will be widely adopted across manufacturing industries. The aerospace and defense market will transform digitally to strive to achieve near-zero unplanned downtime on commercial flights as well as support high production turnaround at a lower cost. What makes 3D printing most attractive in aerospace is the removal of many costs associated with traditional manufacturing like stocking inventory. Users are enabled to print the parts they need, as needed.”
About Airbus APWorks GmbH:
As a 100 % subsidiary of Airbus Group, Airbus APWorks is familiar with modern production processes, and makes proven aerospace technologies accessible in many different industries. In metallic 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, they cover the entire value chain, from optimized component design to the choice of suitable materials, from prototyping to qualified serial production. Their customers in robotics, mechanical engineering, automotive, medical technology and aerospace benefit from all the advantages that additive manufacture has to offer – the shortest possible production times and a reduction in weight and materials used for production. 3D printing also allows much more complex geometries than were previously possible. In addition to additive manufacturing, Airbus APWorks markets innovative projects and technologies from Airbus Group Innovations, the Group’s global innovation network.
Airbus APWorks GmbH
Willy-Messerschmitt-Straße 1
82024 Taufkirchen / Germany
www.apworks.de
Source: Airbus APWorks GmbH
