Siemens to Present Virtual Reference Factory at Formnext Connect with EOS and DyeMansion

With Formnext 2020 coming up next week, Siemens is set to announce new developments and innovations in industrial additive manufacturing through its partnerships and collaborations, in particular with EOS and DyeMansion. You can attend the event here.

Image courtesy of Siemens

At Formnext Connect 2020, the virtual platform developed this year to supplant the annual physical event, Siemens will host its Additive Manufacturing Summit. At this summit, the company will present the latest updates and results from its partnership with EOS and DyeMansion. With the motto “partnering for the next step to industrialize Additive Manufacturing,” the company will present its collaborative solution for high-volume production. This consists of the EOS P500 and Formiga P110 (for smaller, more flexible factory cells) along with post-processing systems from DyeMansion, integrated into Siemen’s automated production solutions as has been done with HP and its 5200 production systems.

Virtual reference factory. Image courtesy of Siemens

The presentation, in the context of a footwear production application, will expand on Siemen’s Additive Manufacturing Experience Center (AMEC), which is also virtually available, and includes a virtual reference factory for laser-sintering and post-processing systems for industrial production.

Automated digital workflows optimized in this footwear application. Image courtesy of Siemens

Its Digital Enterprise Portfolio offers end-users and technology providers the full potential of its digital twin solution for optimal part manufacturing, flexible, scalable production and to improve productivity and cost efficiency versus traditional manufacturing methods.

“The automated chain of coordinated production steps from all suppliers, from design and printing to post-processing, as well as end-to-end IT integration, is crucial for high productivity and maximum flexibility. This applies to series parts as well as to a highly flexible lot-size-1 production for individualized products or spare parts,” explains Dr. Karsten Heuser, Vice President Additive Manufacturing at Siemens Digital Industries, and continues: “With the end-to-end digitization and automation solutions from Siemens, we have succeeded, together with our partners EOS and DyeMansion, in creating a seamlessly integrated end-to-end value chain for industrial additive manufacturing with selective laser sintering and industrial post-processing solutions using polymers.”

This virtual reference factory will showcase the entire production chain for industrial manufacturing, using selective laser sintering and polymer materials for a footwear application.

Markus Glasser, Senior Vice President EMEA at EOS explains: “Our EOS P 500 manufacturing platform is ideally suited for laser-sintering of plastic parts on an industrial scale: One of the key advantages is the extensive automation capability for comprehensive productivity while maintaining consistently high part quality. This ensures economical component costs and allows the production of additive-manufactured components even overnight”. 

Optimized lattice structures and materials. Image courtesy of Siemens

DyeMansion’s Powerfuse S and DM60—with its eco-friendly, industry-ready VapourFuse Surfacing technology and the Print-to-Product automated workflow—have been integrated into Siemens automation technology, and were presented last year at Formnext at the Siemens booth.

Felix Ewald, CEO & Co-Founder of DyeMansion about the new partnership: “Bringing the manufacturing technology of the future to series production level together with Siemens and EOS is a major task that we are proud to accomplish. Digitally integrated, automated and with the clear goal of providing solutions at the highest industrial level, we are united on this path. When three market leaders in their field join forces and take on a pioneering role together, this is not only a strong signal for international industry, but also for Germany as a business location.”

Last year, Siemens had presented its entire Digital Enterprise portfolio, including specialized simulation software and CNC technology solutions. As always the focus was on developments arising out of close collaboration with machine or material suppliers, service providers, and users. New features, such as the NX AM Path Optimizer were demonstrated, as well the Simcenter 3D Additive Manufacturing Process Simulation with TRUMPF as partner.

The company had also presented integrated control solutions developed along with SCANLAB, industrial metal open platform 3D printing from Farsoon integrated with software and automation technology from the Digital Enterprise portfolio, and fully automated AM factory solutions along with EOS, integrating the latter’s Shared Modules and EOSPRINT software. With demonstrated success from its initial key partnerships, with Formnext 2019 Siemens had also opened up its Additive Manufacturing Network, its cloud-based collaboration platform, to all players in the global AM ecosystem.

Recently, we also reported on the partnership with Nexa3D to bring the high-speed sintering QLS systems to full Industry 4.0 readiness by combining “connectivity, digital twin sensing and data acquisition to deliver 24/7, lights out predictive maintenance, process monitoring and print optimization to deliver polymer additive manufacturing solutions at scale on the factory floor.” Siemens’s industrial AM solutions span the entire value chain for additive series production, supported by end-to-end software and digital workflow solutions especially with NX software and Siemen’s digital twin solution for real-world simulation, predictive maintenance, and first-time-right production. To address developments across the entire value chain, a large part of Siemen’s growth in the additive manufacturing market is due to close partnerships and co-innovations with AM suppliers and end-users. The network includes Jabil, Xometry, Sculpteo, Stratasys, Materialise, Forecast3D, and HP, among others.