2023-06-05 19:26:53
Generative design in combination with 3D printing can easily lead to a 20% reduction of parts in a car chassis. This simplifies the spare part business considerably for car manufacturers. Is the automotive industry moving in that direction? Paolo Guglielmini, President and CEO of Hexagon, doesn’t rule that out.
That is why Hexagon took an interest in Divergent 3D at the end of last year, the American scale-up that is developing a super car concept, but is also developing for other cars. Guglielmini recently made his statements at the AWK’23 in Aachen. In mid-June he will present his vision on decarbonisation in the manufacturing industry during HxGN Live Global.
Copy of the real world is the beginning of an improvement cycle
The automotive industry is moving towards 3D printing
Paolo Guglielmini, who took over the management of Hexagon last year, was one of the keynote speakers at the AWK’23. He sees the transport and automotive industry moving towards 3D printing. The concepts that Divergent 3D, in which Hexagon acquired an interest at the end of last year, are working on are, in his view, interesting for several reasons. Material saving is one of them. But by integrating many parts into one 3D printed chassis part, the scale up also reduces production costs and the cost of holding spare parts. The first – lower production costs – might go even further in the future. “They are working on a model for autonomous production. Their generative design tool can eventually become an operating system for the production of the future.”
Save CAPEX a shorter time to market
When asked whether additive manufacturing is really that sustainable because of its energy consumption, Guglielmini responded by saying that you have to look at energy consumption holistically. “We think that you use less energy in the overall process because you need fewer assembly cells.” This also reduces the CAPEX in a company and ensures a shorter time to market, two not insignificant advantages, according to the president of Hexagon.
Growth from decarbonization
Hexagon is one of the companies that will derive an important part of the growth in the coming years from the decarbonisation of society, including industry. Digitization and in particular the digital twin are the solution for this, says Paolo Guglielmini. “We try to make a digital copy of the real world. That is the beginning of the improvement cycle.” The problem is that only a small proportion of assets in the real world have been digitized, a percentage that varies greatly by industry. What it really comes down to, he says, is sharing data across factories and entire supply chains to get feedback as input for the next design cycle. “Quality management across suppliers and factories.”
Ecodesign will also contribute to decarbonisation. The challenge, according to the Hexagon CEO, is how to transfer sufficient data regarding the carbon footprint of products to the design software.
More information regarding HxGN Live Global can be found here
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