Disruptive Innovation Through 3D Printing

Emerging technologies such as 3D Printing or Additive Manufacturing (AM) and especially Selective Laser Melting (SLM) provide great potential for solving the dilemma between scale and scope, i.e. manufacturing products at mass production costs with a maximum fit to customer needs or functional requirements. Because of the technology’s intrinsic advantages such as one-piece-flow capability and almost infinite freedom of design, Additive Manufacturing was recently described as “the manufacturing technology that will change the world”. Due to the complex nature of production systems, the technological potential of AM and particularly SLM can only be realized by a holistic comprehension of the complete value creation chain, especially the interdependency between products and production processes. Therefore, this chapter aims to give an overview on recent research in machine concepts and component design, which experts of the Cluster of Excellence “Integrative production technology for high wage countries” carried out.