Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace: expanded offering for additive manufacturing

The Siemens Xcelerator strategy aims to emphasize the importance of technology and innovation partnerships and open, interoperable technologies. They are essential to facilitate the integration of additive manufacturing (AM) into conventional manufacturing technologies, meet standardized quality and safety requirements and accelerate the scaling of AM solutions. At Formnext 2024, Siemens is therefore bringing offers from other partners for additive manufacturing to the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace.

New fields of application opened up

LEAM Technologies is further developing large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) with light-based welding technology. In collaboration with CEAD, an expert in large-format additive manufacturing and a long-standing partner of Siemens, LEAM Technologies is opening up new possibilities in additive manufacturing. By using light to heat the material, LEAM enables high mechanical strength, even with difficult-to-print materials. This is particularly interesting for applications in industries such as aerospace, defense and energy. A temperature monitoring system from LEAM enables real-time temperature control during the additive manufacturing process. The edge-based solution, which is now available on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace, continuously checks and regulates the temperature at every position of the component to improve the quality of the printed parts. With LEAM, manufacturers can make their manufacturing processes more efficient, increase product quality and reduce scrap rates at the same time.

VLM Robotics, manufacturer of XXL production machines, offers turnkey solutions for the railroad, shipbuilding, aviation and energy industries. At Formnext, VLM Robotics will be presenting the new CALYPSO model, a fully automated autonomous mobile robot solution based on Sinumerik One, Sinumerik CNC Robotics and Simove, for the first time alongside its well-known CNC robot machines. The GEMINI machine for hybrid additive manufacturing in the XXL range will also be on display at the trade fair stand. As hybrid machines, the robot solutions from VLM Robotics can perform printing tasks (directed energy deposition, cold spray) as well as welding, control and milling work. The CNC robot machines from VLM Robotics can be seamlessly integrated into the production environment and enable flexible repair and production work on large components. Digital threads play a central role in this, as they are end-to-end digital twins of all data and information across the entire life cycle of a product, machine and process, enabling seamless integration and transparency from development to disposal. The complexity of controlling a highly flexible multi-technology robot cell while meeting high precision and quality requirements requires a high level of industry, automation and digitalization expertise. VLM Robotics is now represented on the Siemens Xcelerator Marketplace, where it offers customized digital solutions that allow seamless integration and tracking of all relevant data and information along the entire production lifecycle.

Accelerating the circular economy

Additive manufacturing is an important enabler for the circular economy. Designing products in such a way that they can be reused, recycled or safely returned to the environment at the end of their life cycle promotes a sustainable value chain, reduces waste and conserves resources. Product design plays a central role in this, as 80 percent of the environmental impact is determined in the design phase. Siemens relies on industrial AI and the industrial metaverse to generate optimal designs and enable automated, intelligent workflows. Siemens solutions enable Toolcraft, for example, to improve the design and engineering process for components by 30 percent for new designs and 85 percent for design changes.

Haddy is revolutionizing furniture manufacturing through advanced 3D printing and robotics to produce high-quality, sustainable products at low cost on a commercial scale. Haddy is building a global network of local micro-factories equipped with hybrid flexbot systems from CEAD and recycling units to shorten the supply chain and reduce environmental impact by minimizing waste. By collecting detailed data during the manufacturing process, the robots can be continuously optimized to increase speed, accuracy and efficiency. Haddy is aware of its responsibility towards the environment and uses only renewable and recyclable materials. With the Haddy Inside RFID chips and a scalable cloud API solution, Haddy introduces a true circular system for its products, enabling responsible material traceability and recycling, ensuring sustainable production and significantly reducing the environmental footprint.

AM I Navigator is being expanded

With Stratasys as an additional partner, the AM I Navigator is entering the next round. Since the initiative was founded in November 2023, the framework has been continuously developed and supplemented with concrete application examples. With its framework, the AM I Navigator offers a structured approach to defining the current status and steps towards a target state of industrialized additive manufacturing. It is based on established digital manufacturing frameworks such as the Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI), which helps companies assess their current level of digitalization and Industry 4.0 readiness and develop strategies to modernize their production processes.