Holistic approach for industrializing AM technology: from part selection to test and verification

Even in times where additive manufacturing has a peak in media and industry interest, only few companies have already implemented this technology. Many companies struggle with the use of AM even if they have already identified the benefits of this technology for their business. Additional knowledge along the whole product development chain is necessary to succeed in implementing this technology. As all other production technologies, AM has certain strength and weaknesses which affect the suitable part candidates. Redesign or manufacturing approaches of unsuited part candidates are no very likely to be successful. In general, aspects like design rules need to be known along the product development process in order to achieve technology-based benefits during production and post-processing resulting in economic success. This paper will present a holistic approach which will assist the designer during product development and manufacturing based on an example part from the space industry. Then methodology starts with an appropriate part selection as a key parameter for the product development process. Based on the promising part candidates, deductions for the further product development process will be described. This includes approaches for functional integration as well as a methodology for the compilation of part requirements. Those are utilized for a black box methodology, ensuring a time-efficient redesign based on FEA optimization and design rules for additive manufacturing. Best practices for integrating (or in the best case avoiding) traditional technologies are discussed. Based on this, the development of industrialization and test and verification plans for production are shown. This includes the marking of parts for traceability during the whole product lifecycle for quality reasons as well as for product protection. Furthermore, production and production planning are discussed. This is followed by post-processing and testing procedures of the part. The paper will close with a detailed economic view on the topic and some deductions regarding the changes in the supply chain. The methodology itself is discussed and explained on a real sample metal part. The general methodology is discussed on the basis of the space industry but is subject to be adapted to other industries.