The agreement will see Siemens supply Oerlikon AM with digital enterprise solutions that will help the Switzerland-based company accelerate the industrialisation of additive manufacturing.
The integration of Siemens’ digital expertise portfolio in Oerlikon’s software landscape in its additive manufacturing and research and development sites will support Oerlikon in actively managing the additive manufacturing process from end to end using one interface.
“At the moment we have a variety of special tools that we use for different steps of the value chain,” said Dr. Sven Hicken, Head of Oerlikon’s Additive Manufacturing Business Unit.
“Developing a more integrated system that gives us increased visibility and puts all of our manufacturing sites on the same page will allow us more flexibility and speed in responding to customer requests.”
The two companies will begin by focusing on tools used in the engineering part of the additive manufacturing process. The project is expected to take approximately two years to complete, but individual models will go into operation when completed.
“Oerlikon has extensive expertise in the additive manufacturing process,” said Dr. Karsten Heuser, Vice-President of Additive Manufacturing for Siemens Digital Industries.
“We know we can learn from them and are excited by the opportunity to use our technology to enhance their productivity. Working together, we believe we can make a major impact on industry’s adoption of additive manufacturing.”