At Formnext, Siemens will be demonstrating what sustainable additive manufacturing can look like. Using several use cases, the technology company will show how resources,_{CO2 footprint} and environmental impact can be reduced. To achieve this, the entire value chain of a product must be considered transparently. Then climate targets can be achieved and an environmentally friendly industry can be created.

Sustainable design of additive gripper solutions

In the first use case, Siemens shows that optimized product design plays an important role in green additive manufacturing. In the gripper solution for a handling robot used in automotive production, the overall mass of the gripper was reduced by 64 percent.

By utilizing the design freedom in additive manufacturing during the design phase, the weight and therefore the material required can be significantly reduced. With "NX for AM", Siemens offers a digital process chain to find a suitable design through topology optimization, which can then be tested using FEM simulation and prepared for printing. In addition, "Teamcenter Product Cost Management" and the "Product Carbon Footprint Calculator" can be used to optimize both the production costs and the_{CO2 footprint} of the product in advance.

The specific project originally involved a gripper solution weighing over 58 kg, which was assembled from more than 660 parts. In addition to the weight reduction, the freedom of design also meant that the assembly time was reduced by 80 percent due to the elimination of complex assemblies. Comparing conventional and additive design, production costs were reduced by 73 percent, with an 82 percent lower_{CO2 footprint}. In addition, the weight reduction in turn enabled the use of smaller robots, which led to energy savings of 54 percent per year.

More efficient production thanks to digitally optimized energy consumption

A second use case for environmentally friendly additive manufacturing is the cooperation with Genera, a provider of highly automated, photopolymer-based additive manufacturing technologies, in conjunction with the "AM Digital Factory Planning toolbox" from Siemens Advanta. This involved simulating the mass production of connectors using digital light processing. With the help of the "Digital Twin of Production", precise and transparent analyses of the energy consumption of the 3D printers in different machine states could be created without interfering with running systems. Thanks to more efficient energy management, it was possible to save between 25 and 30 percent of the energy required per component produced, depending on the utilization of the printers.

Developing environmentally friendly materials for 3D printing

In the third use case, Siemens shows how environmentally friendly - ideally even completely biodegradable - materials offer enormous potential for a sustainable industry in 3D printing for buildings and infrastructure. The AM machine manufacturer Cead and Poly Products, a Dutch expert in composite materials, have developed 3D-printed harbor fenders made of flax as part of the EU project "SeaBioComp". Port fenders are buffers that ensure that the quay walls do not damage the outer walls of ships in port. Port fenders are normally made of plastic. This in turn ends up in the sea as environmentally harmful microplastics due to abrasion.

The flax fenders are just as durable as conventional harbor fenders, but have a lower_{CO2 footprint}. The flax is 100 percent biodegradable. Poly Products uses a 3D printer with a control system from Siemens to produce the flax fenders. The Sinumerik 840D sl is installed in the 3-axis portal machine CFAM Prime from Cead. This makes it possible to achieve the required precision in the complex robot movement to enable both the correct application of material and the milling of the component to a final contour.

Print-on-demand and AM Network reduce the_{CO2 footprint}

Additive manufacturing paves the way for the decentralization of production. It changes the existing paradigm of expensive, physical inventories to digital warehouses where products are only produced when needed and close to the point of consumption. This increases the reliability of the supply chain while reducing inventory costs and_{CO2 emissions} from transportation.

Siemens' digital solutions for additive manufacturing enable companies to create, verify and certify these digital assets - which can be ordered at the touch of a button - in predefined libraries. The Siemens AM Network routes these manufacturing requests to the most suitable production sites to maximize global production capacity and ensure higher printer utilization. Unnecessary downtime is avoided and the energy required to warm up and cool down the 3D printer is optimally utilized. The Siemens AM Network also enables companies to interact digitally with each other and optimize the use of underutilized production facilities with fluctuating production demand.