Model for the Client-Oriented Selection of Additive Manufacturing Infrastructure based on Information gathered from Production Networks

• Published in: Procedia CIRP 2019, Vol.84, p.322-327
• Main Authors: Reiff, Colin, Wulle, Frederik, Strieg, Florian, Riedel, Oliver
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Additive Manufacturing; Decision making; Manufacturing network; Production planning
• ISSN: 2212-8271; 2212-8271
• DOI: 10.1016/j.procir.2019.04.208

A significant limitation for the use of additive manufacturing (AM) processes in an industrial context is the uncertainty about possible manufacturing conditions, costs and resulting part properties related to the used machines and materials. Since a large range of processes, machines, and materials are available on the market, the choice of optimal configuration for a user-specific part is often challenging. To simplify the development and design processes and to support the respective user in production planning, an architecture is presented, which allows an estimation of manufacturing conditions of AM technologies. The system consists of a database, which contains data about available machines, materials and additional information for quality assurance. For this purpose, defined parameters of machines registered in the network are directly retrieved from the machine control via OPC-UA communication standard. Subsequently, in a logic layer, the gathered information is matched with the requested part geometry and with additional customer requirements. As a result, the user can assess the influences of his decisions regarding design, material and machine selection at an early phase of the product development process, which ensures the basic feasibility and the planned production as well as the estimation of quality and costs.