•  Extension of seamless software and automation solutions in the Digital Enterprise portfolio drive forward the industrialization of additive manufacturing for machine builders and users

•  Expansion of partner network advances industrial additive applications

•  New: AM factory planning now offered by IoT Services Consulting

•  Siemens Additive Manufacturing Network is now globally available

Under the slogan “Thinking industrialized Additive Manufacturing further!”, Siemens is exhibiting at Formnext 2019, the leading global trade fair dedicated to additive manu-facturing and all of its upstream and downstream processes, where it will present its entire solution portfolio for industrialized additive manufacturing, tailored to specific in-dustries. With the Digital Enterprise portfolio, the company is offering a comprehen¬sive end-to-end solution for the entire value chain from function-driven design through manufacturing to services. The portfolio of industrial software and automation also in-cludes leading simulation software and CNC technology. With its Digital Enterprise portfolio, Siemens supports the complete use of digital twins, which simulate the real world for machine manufacturers and users in order to ensure the correct manufac-ture of a component on the very first attempt.

Partner network for advancing industrial applications and innovations

Together with strategic partners, at this year’s Formnext Siemens is presenting a selection of real-life additive manufacturing applications, which illustrate the end-to-end process for four widely used AM technologies: binder jetting, powder bed fusion, material extrusion and directed energy deposition. “All of our industrial additive appli-cations have been developed in close partnership with machine builders and users. Their success is based on end-to-end solutions for specific industrial applications. Our tools for development, simulation, production preparation and 3D printing are con-nected in a seamless system, the Digital Enterprise portfolio, and seamlessly inte-grated into our partners’ production solutions. In recent months, we significantly ex-panded this portfolio by adding further innovations,” explains Dr. Karsten Heuser, Vice President Additive Manufacturing at Siemens Digital Industries. The in¬novations developed with partners, enable support for a broader range of industrial applications and are driven by the seamless digitalization of the entire process chain – design, production planning, production engineering, production execution and services.

Significant progress has been made in the optimization of the printing process for powder-based additive manufacturing. Local overheating, which can arise when the laser moves over the powder on preprogrammed paths, can adversely affect the print-ing process or the part geometry. With NX AM Path Optimizer, a new beta technology integrated in NX software, Siemens demonstrates how to locally adapt and optimize the printing process during production planning through a machine learning algorithm trained using synthetic data from a multi-physics simulation. The AM Path Optimizer technology quickly calculates and corrects laser paths and process parameters as it detects imminent overheating. This technology complements the Simcenter 3D Additive Manufacturing Process Simulation launched last year and is being demon-strated with TRUMPF as a partner.

In the field of machinery equipment, Siemens and SCANLAB are presenting an inte-grated control solution for manufacturers who build machines for a wide range of laser processing methods. This jointly developed solution integrates a scanning head con¬trol into the machine controller. A shared IPC platform for PLC, HMI and scanning head control combines all automation tasks in one system, which enables faster que¬ries thanks to reduced interfaces.

In September of this year, a strategic partnership agreement was signed with Farsoon, a leading Chinese manufacturer in the powder bed fusion technology seg¬ment. The first result of this cooperation is the new and efficient FS301M industrial metal printing system. The system is equipped with Siemens automation technology from the Digital Enterprise portfolio and will be presented at the Farsoon booth.

With CEAD, a technology supplier of 3D printing equipment for fiber rein-forced materials on a big scale, Siemens showcases their latest innovation, the AM Flexbot. The machine consists of a Comau robot arm, controlled by Sinumerik Run MyRobot /Direct Control and is equipped with a single screw extruder. With this, the AM Flexbot achieves great precision despite of complex robot movements, which enables large scale 3D printing and even a combination of printing and milling to create final contours. The printing of large fiber reinforced parts becomes reality with CEAD's multiple 3D printing solutions.

IoT Services Consulting extends portfolio to include the digital AM factory planning

With the digital AM factory kit, IoT Services Consulting is presenting a further compo-nent for the industrialization of additive manufacturing at Formnext. The company is combining its expertise in conventional factory planning with its AM expertise. Through its modular approach, Siemens IoT Services Consulting supports the indus¬trialization of AM technology: from strategic development through the optimization of product design, development of the manufacturing process, pilot phase, economic feasibility assessment to the planning and implementation of a turn-key AM factory. Based on the digital twin, a flexible and scalable manufacturing concept is developed and validated, which complies with the requirements of conventional series production in terms of productivity and cost considerations before production is even started, which also ensures prompt certification.

Together with EOS, the company shows in this context that the expansion of the ma-chine to an integrated line can already be achieved in real life. With this strategic part-ner, Siemens is working successively on joint solutions for the industrial AM factory. At Formnext, EOS is presenting EOS Shared Modules for the EOS M 400 Series, which are equipped with control and drive technology from the Siemens Digital Enterprise portfolio and can be used to implement a fully automated AM factory. In addition, Siemens will demonstrate a print workflow integrated with NX software and linked to EOSPRINT. The workflow also supports the use of the Identify3D Technology Suite, an intellectual property protection, quality assurance and data security solution in all phases of digital manufacturing.

Additive Manufacturing Network is now globally available

Formnext 2019 is also a milestone for the Siemens digital AM platform. Following a successful pilot phase with key partners, the Additive Manufacturing Network is now available to all those involved in the AM ecosystem. The concept, that was first intro-duced in April 2018, is today a market-ready cloud-based solution that fosters collabo-ration and process orchestration between engineers, procurement and suppliers of 3D printed parts. Providing an end-to-end digital process that connects the demand for parts with a supplier network enables a truly global distributed manufacturing.

In addi¬tion, Siemens’ customers will be supported on their additive journey by unique AM training solutions based on a newly announced collaboration between Siemens Gas and Power and the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME). Siemens Gas and Power will bring its technical application content as a leading industry user of additive manufacturing to the partnership and combine it with ASME’s industry-leading competency model framework. It will be offered as an extension of the additive manu¬facturing service portfolio of Materials Solutions, a Siemens business.

Under the slogan “Thinking industrialized Additive Manufacturing further!”, Siemens is attending Formnext 2019, where it will present its entire solution portfolio for industrial-ized additive manufacturing, tailored to specific industries.