In the second quarter of 2023, KMWE Precision will start serial production with additive manufacturing. Eighteen months ago, Edward Voncken, CEO, was still very cautious regarding future plans. The supplier is now clearly expressing its growth ambitions. Where does this cover come from?
After exactly ten years of pioneering additive manufacturing, KMWE Precision is taking the next step in additive manufacturing this spring. Section G of the Brainport Industries Campus will not only house the 3D metal printer from SLM Solutions; the thermal spraying that KMWE is still doing elsewhere will also be accommodated here. And there is room for more metal printers. Section G will be KMWE Precision’s one stop shop for all things additive. “Everything is prepared for five machines; we start with one and then let the business continue to grow”, says Edward Voncken. According to him, that can go quite quickly. “We have 75 CNC milling machines, we think some of these will be replaced by printers.”
The supply chain problems of recent years have accelerated the implementation of additive manufacturing
During a discussion with multiple stakeholders from the AM ecosystem at the end of 2021, Edward Voncken said that he had not yet seen the business cases. What causes a cover now?
The supply chain problems of recent years have accelerated the implementation of additive manufacturing, he thinks. Lead times for casting and forging parts have reached up to 60 weeks. “The lead time of 3D printing is days rather than weeks. If we now offer AM when parts are not available, customers will agree.” 3D printing can be a solution for scarcity in supply chains. In addition, the desire for sustainability and the reuse of raw materials will boost the application of the technology, expects the CEO of KMWE. Instead of machining 90% of a forging part and sending the rest back to the blast furnaces to remelt, with additive manufacturing you only use the 10% material you really need. And he also points to the on-demand side of additive manufacturing; make exactly the quantities that the customer needs. “If we now order parts from the foundry, there will be 100 pieces at once.” By 3D printing parts, the production of a new part can be scaled up step by step, adds Rob van Loon, AM engineer, to the list of advantages. “With blacksmithing, you need certain sizes and numbers to make it economically viable. With AM we are more flexible.” In short, the market is shifting for all of these reasons.
Cooling and vacuum systems
KMWE Precision sees applications primarily in the semiconductor industry: cooling and vacuum systems, parts that now often require complex machining operations, combined with welding and a lot of assembly work. “Even modules close to the wafers and other critical components,” says Rob van Loon. All parts with internal cooling channels can be interesting for 3D printing. Currently, these types of parts are still made with drilling, milling and welding. By printing these types of components in one go, KMWE saves a lot of assembly work and can optimize the components in terms of performance. Aerospace is another market where the supplier sees work for the AM department. Just like the drone market.
Co-design
KMWE Precision has invested heavily in knowledge development around additive manufacturing in recent years. Rob van Loon prefers to use this knowledge as early as possible in a development process at the customer, because certain choices you make then affect the manufacturability of the part. He also likes to join customers at an early stage to find out where in an assembly the component is used. Rob van Loon: “Sometimes there are tolerances on the drawing that you cannot achieve with printing; tolerances that are only necessary because the part still has to be assembled. By printing these assemblies in one piece, tolerances are often easier to achieve.” Most parts that KMWE Precision prints need to be mechanically machined followingwards. How far does the supplier’s involvement in the design go? If the model may not be changed, additional consultation is not necessary. But co-design together with the customer, with Rob van Loon providing feedback on manufacturability, often leads to a more efficient production process. He sees a clear evolution among customers in this area. “They have learned a lot. Three years ago, any adjustment was difficult; now they think along. If we think along from the start, this saves headaches in the production process. A small adjustment can result in tens of percent cost savings.”
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Quality assurance
Is the quality assurance of AM parts now good enough for the demanding high-tech industry? Rob van Loon notices that customers are still setting the bar higher for AM sharing than for other techniques. However, the digital production technique that is additive manufacturing lends itself like no other to integrated quality assurance. The machines are prepared to read all kinds of data. 3D scanning, on the other hand, can be used for the verification of parts. “You have to have the process under control when you produce critical components,” says Rob van Loon. An important part of the errors during 3D printing can be traced back to the gas flow of the machine. “If half of the building volume is melted at a given moment, the gas flow cannot remove the smoke.” The flue gases will then disrupt the laser beam, which can lead to errors in the next layer. Those are experiences that will take you a long way, according to the AM engineer. If you also periodically print test pieces and ensure that everything is traceable, you do not have to measure every piece. “Semicon sometimes demands very little in that area; aerospace is much more critical in that regard.”
