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Daimler 3d printing
Daimler Buses creates mobile 3D printing center for series production of spare parts
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German multinational automotive corporation Daimler AG and its service brand Omniplus have created a mobile 3D printing center for the decentralized production of spare parts.
The mobile container will be in operation at the BusWorld Home (BWH) service center in Hamburg, and can be transported by truck to any location requiring only electricity and an internet connection to operate.
“Thanks to the mobile 3D printing centre, we can exploit the advantages of 3D printing to a greater extent and further increase the speed at which we supply spare parts,” said Bernd Mack, Head of Customer Services & Parts at Daimler Buses. “Decentralised production of parts as required avoids warehousing costs and reduces transportation routes.
Daimler Buses and its service brand Omniplus have created a mobile printing centre for the decentralised production of 3D printed spare parts in order to be able to provide bus customers with spare parts more quickly. Photo via Daimler.“Thus, 3D printing not only allows us to react fast, flexibly and economically to customer requirements but to also improve our ecological footprint for the production of spare parts.
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3D printing spare parts
Daimler has been 3D printing spare parts for its vehicles for some time. In 2016, the company announced it would start 3D printing spare parts for its range of trucks, and the year after announced the production of its first metal 3D printed spare parts.
In 2019, the company announced a partnership with Swiss SLS 3D printer manufacturer Sintratec to install an S2 3D printer at its EvoBus production site in Neu-Ulm. With the addition of the new printer, the EvoBus subsidiary brought 3D printing in-house, reducing service and logistical costs.
The company also completed its Next Generation Additive Manufacturing (NextGenAM) project with industry partners EOS and Premium AREOTEC, which focused on the production of aluminum parts for automotive and aerospace applications.
Mobile 3D printing
The pilot container spans twelve by three meters and is designed to provide bus customers with spare parts more quickly. Housed at the BWH service center, which already offers a range of services for Mercedez-Benz and Setra Buses, the container will enable the center to quickly produce 3D printed spare parts in-house.
The container is equipped with an industrial 3D printer enabling Daimler to produce series-production quality parts. The parts are additively manufactured with high-quality polyamide and meet the company’s production standards for injection-molding and deep drawn parts.
In addition to the 3D printer, within the container is a CAD workstation and a processing station where powder is prepared and parts are freed from residue powder in the final stage of the process.
In an adjacent room there is a blasting system, which smooths the surface of components, as well as an air compressor. The container is also equipped with an industrial vacuum cleaner, an air filter, and an air conditioning system.
BWH Hamburg’s expertise in painting means that the 3D printed parts can be refined directly according to customer requirements, and as such, Daimler Buses is setting up a further production facility for 3D printed spare parts at the center.
According to Daimler, in the future bus customers will be able to purchase 3D printing licenses via the Omniplus On portal and then have the corresponding parts produced through a certified 3D printing center.
Using 3D printing Daimler Buses can react fast and flexibly to urgent customer requirements, for example when customers order rarely required parts or have special requests. Photo via Daimler.Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter for the latest news in additive manufacturing.
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Featured image shows Daimler Buses and its service brand Omniplus have created a mobile printing centre for the decentralised production of 3D printed spare parts in order to be able to provide bus customers with spare parts more quickly. Photo via Daimler.
Tags Bernd Mack BusWorld Home Daimler Daimler Buses EOS EvoBus Mercedez-Benz NextGenAM OmniPlus Premium AREOTEC Setra Buses Sintratec
Hayley Everett
Hayley is a Technology Journalist for 3DPI and has a background in B2B publications spanning manufacturing, tools and cycling. Writing news and features, she holds a keen interest in emerging technologies which are impacting the world we live in.
Daimler Trucks North America launches 3D printed parts program
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Portland, Ore. – December 4, 2017 – Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) will make its first delivery of plastic parts produced using 3D printing technologies to its customers in the coming weeks as part of a pilot program. As a market leader and pioneer of emerging technologies, the trucking company is confident that these new technologies will soon play a significant role in the industry. More importantly, DTNA sees 3D printing as an opportunity to better serve its customers, particularly those customers in need of parts that have been difficult to provide through traditional supply chain models, such as those for older trucks or parts with very low or intermittent demand. During this pilot phase, DTNA will release a controlled quantity of 3D printed parts and will invite feedback from customers and technicians that receive them. DTNA will also collect data on the parts performance as well as assess potential future demand for 3D printed parts.
To print the parts, DTNA partnered with the 3D printing service bureau, Technology House, which has over 20 years of experience in additive manufacturing. Together, the companies have made the first parts available to customers with Selective Laser Sintering. The SLS process refers to layering powder in a print chamber and then “selectively” melting a pattern with lasers before adding the next layer. The 3D printed parts have been validated to meet durability requirements and many will appear no different to the untrained eye. During the pilot phase, parts to be printed include nameplates, map pockets, and plastic covers.
Additionally, parts that are eligible for 3D printing are also being stored in DTNA’s digital warehouse. This allows a part to be printed on demand with shorter lead times. Without the need to maintain tooling, these parts will remain available to customers when needed. On-demand 3D printing also removes the need of holding physical inventory. Currently, the order process takes 2-4 weeks, but once the program is fully launched, parts will be able to be shipped in just a few days.
This capability has the potential to increase uptime for our customers who may otherwise experience long wait times for a hard-to-find part.
“Over the past 5 years, DTNA has made significant financial and intellectual investments in the supply chain network in order to deliver parts to our customers faster than ever before. The addition of three new PDCs coupled with dedicated delivery service puts us on the path toward achieving this objective. We realize that we must continue to innovate and we will invest in new processes including 3D printing. What DTNA is launching today with 3D printing is only the beginning as we continue to develop this technology in our quest to be the benchmark for parts availability,” said Jay Johnson, general manager, aftermarket supply chain, Daimler Trucks North America.
About Daimler Trucks North America
Daimler Trucks North America LLC, headquartered in Portland, Ore., is the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America.
It manufactures, sells, and services commercial vehicles under the Freightliner, Western Star, Detroit, and Thomas Built Buses nameplates. Daimler Trucks North America is a Daimler company. For more information, visit www.daimler-trucksnorthamerica.com.
Daimler Buses will allow bus owners to produce spare parts using 3D printing
Mercedes-Benz and Setra bus/tourist bus owners will soon be able to produce numerous spare parts quickly and cheaply at home. To do this, it is enough to have a certified 3D printer, go through a one-time registration procedure and obtain a license for the required part in the right quantity to create your own "mini parts factory", according to a company press release.
New Omniplus 3D Printing License Facility: A Pioneer in the Automotive Industry
Buses and tour buses must keep moving, and quick availability of spare parts will keep fleets on the move. That's why Daimler Buses is revolutionizing parts service with its Omniplus service brand: no messy ordering process, no need for delivery, no waiting times, but flexible, 24/7 supply of spare parts from within the company.
All of this is made possible by the new 3D printing license store from Omniplus, Daimler Buses' service brand. Starting this June, more than 100 parts from over 1,500 different components that can be 3D printed will be available as the first licenses from the digital warehouse. Additional spare parts will be available as digital licenses at a later date.
This service is similar to streaming services or media libraries, where record collections and fixed broadcasts are a thing of the past, and everyone can enjoy their show or favorite music anytime, anywhere.
Bus/Travel Companies must complete a one-time 3D Printing License eShop registration process with their 3D printers. In the store, customers are only shown parts that are available or compatible with their own printer. The launch was carried out jointly with the manufacturer of industrial 3D printers "Farsoon Technologies". Over time, other 3D printer vendors will be gradually added. Customers then purchase an encrypted license to 3D print the component they need in the quantity they need and can print it within their facility.
After a component is successfully printed, the corresponding license expires without saving the data. Alternatively, customers may communicate their needs to the nearest Omniplus Service Partner. The latter can purchase the appropriate license and take care of the printing. Wibu Systems encryption technology is used to ensure data security throughout the process and to keep the quantity ordered.
With data and individual assembly instructions, a digital twin in a digital warehouse and the provision of encrypted 3D printing licenses, spare parts can be available around the world in the shortest possible time and exactly where they are needed at the moment. The benefits are clear: faster parts availability, shorter supply chain and cost savings.
Digital Spare Parts Warehouse for Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses/coaches
Daimler Buses is a pioneer in industrial 3D printing across the automotive industry. The company has been paying attention to the potential of digital manufacturing technologies since 2016.
During this time, the service brand Omniplus has identified approximately 40,000 Mercedes-Benz and Setra bus/tourer parts as suitable for 3D printing. Omniplus will initially focus on over 7,000 parts, which will be gradually digitized. Thus, a kind of digital warehouse will be created, which is constantly expanding. It includes both regularly required spare parts and rarely required parts for special customer requests. The virtual warehouse is the basis for managing 3D printing licenses, which further optimizes the rapid provision of spare parts.
Daimler Buses put into operation the Mobile Center for Additative Production
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Daimler Buses, which is part of the Daimler AG automotive concern, settled down by the 3D-printing mobile center. A pilot additive workshop is being tested at BWH's bus repair service center in Hamburg.
The workshop was built in a standard shipping container with a useful area of 36 square meters.
The kit includes an industrial 3D printer manufactured by HP Inc. and a set of auxiliary equipment for post-processing of products and recycling of consumables.
Additive plant operates on Multi Jet Fusion technology - selective thermal sintering of polymer powders. Daimler Buses is primarily interested in 3D printing with polyamides, although the technology allows for other polymers such as polypropylene and thermoplastic polyurethane. The workshop requires only an electrical connection and the Internet.
Daimler Buses estimates that around 40,000 types of used components are suitable for additive manufacturing. So far, work is underway to digitize the first group of about seven thousand parts, some of which are generally available only in 3D printed form (most likely, we are talking about spare parts removed from mass production). In the future, bus operators will be able to order the required parts online from Omniplus certified 3D printing centers, a service brand of Daimler Buses.
While the company is working on creating the necessary infrastructure, the mobile center will work out the nuances of decentralized additive manufacturing.
“With the mobile 3D printing center, we will be able to take full advantage of the benefits of 3D printing and further reduce spare parts delivery times. Decentralized production of parts as needed reduces warehousing costs and shortens transportation routes. 3D printing not only makes it possible to respond quickly, flexibly and cost-effectively to customer requirements, but also to reduce the environmental footprint of spare parts production,” commented Bernd Mack, Head of Service at Daimler Buses.
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