AACHEN, GERMANY – January 29, 2024: AddUp’s Tooling Competence Centre is excited to launch #2024AMIM – 2024 Additive Manufacturing for Injection Molding, a new project focused on developing and implementing innovations using additive manufacturing for injection molding applications.
The year-long project includes 17 industrial companies and is supported by a consortium of AddUp’s AM experts and partners. The project will focus on seven areas of importance for tooling manufacturers. Each month, AddUp and one of their partners will present challenges and innovations for one of these focus areas. To develop solutions for these areas, AddUp will create samples, benchmarking parts as well as production molds. Vigorous testing and data collection will be prepared and published at the end of the project. The goal of the project is to educate the tooling industry about the innovations additive manufacturing can bring to improve productivity, quality, safety, and sustainability.
The seven focus areas for this project include: Tool Steel Development, Productivity, Quality, Time Savings, Functions, Sustainability, Work Safety and Powder Handling. AddUp has enlisted and extremely reputable consortium of AM experts to guarantee the best support. AddUp partners committed to this project include Swiss Steel Group (SSG), Siemens AG, Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT), AZO, Hotset, The Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV), 3D Laser BW, Herding GmbH, Air Liquide, IwF, Härtha Group, AZL Aachen GmbH, Ingenieurbuero Juri Muller (IBJM), IPG Laser GmbH, Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing (ACAM), WBA Tooling Academy and Novanta Europe GmbH.
Tooling manufacturers are invited to participate in this project by bringing their own challenging tooling applications for evaluation and optimization, but an existing application is not required, for example if confidentiality guidelines do not permit. Companies who are exploring additive manufacturing solutions for their injection molding applications are also encouraged to join. Each member is called upon to actively participate in the monthly meetings and provide feedback and collaboration with other participants. So far, AddUp has 17 companies committed to this project. Included are major global players from the automotive, plastics, and electronics industries.
The project will kick-off in the first week of February with a meeting hosted by AddUp’s partner Siemens AG at their facility in Erlangen, Germany. Monthly workshops will run from March to September with results and data presented in November.
The Tooling Competence Centre serves as AddUp’s German subsidiary and is located within the WBA Tooling Academy in Aachen, Germany. AddUp has extensive experience in the tooling industry developing applications and materials best suited for mold and tool production. The Tooling Competence Centre is equipped with a FormUp 350 PBF machine and provides a resource for tooling manufacturers to validate their applications and partner with an expert in PBF technology.
