OECHSLER AG, a leading polymers technology group with headquarters in Ansbach/Middle Franconia, and a presence globally, is extending its partnership with the US additive manufacturing pioneer, Carbon, and their production capacity for one of the world’s largest polymer-based additive series production facilities in Taicang, China.
Since 2004, the OECHSLER Group has been operating a production site in Taicang, near Shanghai. The implementation of a global production infrastructure was key to the success of the polymer specialist – when developing 3D printing as a future-oriented manufacturing technology. The industrialization of additive manufacturing is OECHSLER’s second pillar. It was initiated in 2016 and implemented in Germany in a record-breaking 15 months – and was then mirrored in the Chinese production facility a few months later. Within eight months, a series production of 120 industrial Carbon printers was set up. The additive series production in Taicang covers a production area of 1800m², and represents one of the largest Carbon printing fleets in series production, globally.
OECHSLER’s Taicang production site
Carbon and OECHSLER have worked with end customers to develop numerous 3D printed end-use products, and converted them into series production. These include prestige projects such as performance-enhancing shoe soles, impact-lessening elements for American football helmets, and bicycle saddles. Due to its high production capacities, OECHSLER’s site in Asia is of particular importance for this strategic partnership.
The extended partnership between Carbon and OECHSLER is accompanied by a double-digit million investment, from OECHSLER, in the Chinese AM site- resulting in the expanded production capacity of over two million parts per year.
“Carbon’s Production Network partners worldwide are an essential pillar of the Carbon ecosystem. With OECHSLER, we have a strong partnership that enables additive series production and real innovation. By extending our strategic partnership, we can not only further optimize our idea-to-production platform, but we can open up new markets together. We believe this is another milestone that will help companies bring better products to market in less time,” said Phil DeSimone, Co-Founder and member of the Office of the CEO at Carbon.
Manufacturing on Demand
Carbon’s and OECHSLER’s 3D printed bicycle saddle
The ‘Idea-to-production’ platform is available through a subscription model. The subscription basis ensures that the Carbon 3D printing platform is constantly evolving with regular software updates, development and deployment of materials, and automated remote updates of printers that add new features and capabilities, improved user experience, faster and more accurate prints, and more sophisticated process management.
A fleet of Carbon printers
“I am convinced that in addition to financial predictability in terms of acquisition and maintenance cost, Carbon’s subscription model offers great benefits in the rapidly evolving Additive Manufacturing industry, including real-time support and integrated services packages at no extra costs, and, most importantly, continuous performance improvement through over-the-air updates,” added Dr. Claudius Kozlik, CEO of OECHSLER AG.
The variability in the product portfolio – made possible by additive manufacturing – must also be able to map pre- and post-processes. The expertise built up by OECHSLER in recent years, especially in the post-processing of 3D printed components, is another success criterion for series production – since the printing itself corresponds to approximately 50% of the production value chain.
The extension of the partnership between Carbon and OECHSLER intends to further advance product and process development on both sides – to optimize innovation and production, and increase resource efficiency. The companies plan to jointly open up new markets and support designers and engineers in developing products, in the long term. Carbon’s technology, coupled with OECHSLER’s development and process know-how, enables the pair to quickly and flexibly develop products for their customers and to mass-produce them with one of the world’s largest 3D printer fleets.
You might also like:
Visitech acquires Keynote Photonics and forms ‘Visitech Americas’: “The Keynote Photonics team accelerated the explosive growth of the additive manufacturing market and our market-leading, high-performance portfolio of scrolling UV and IR printing subsystems. Our teams have worked seamlessly to create new products and to aid customers in getting their products into the market quickly and effectively,” said managing partner of Visitech AS, Oyvind Tafjord. Keynote Photonics has developed various DLP industrial solutions for customers in medical sectors, 3D scanning metrology, and advanced display systems that have been used in Olympic ceremonies, DNA analysis, and the first 8K Laser TV.
* This article is reprinted from 3D Printing Media Network. If you are involved in infringement, please contact us to delete it.
Author: Edward Wakefield
Leave A Comment