Daimler Buses Develops Mobile 3D Printing Center in a Container

The German car manufacturer Daimler, or more precisely its subsidiary Daimler Buses, has developed a pilot project focusing on 3D printing spare parts. With its service brand Omniplus, the company has designed a mobile container measuring 36 square meters (387.501 square feet). The container integrates additive manufacturing solutions for designing components, in this case spare parts, on demand. For now, this manufacturing space will be operational at BusWorld Home (BWH) in Hamburg, Germany. The manufacturer’s goal is to increase the number of digitized and 3D printed parts, and ultimately to offer online 3D printing licenses that customers can buy and then the parts will be produced in an additive manufacturing center certified by Daimler Buses.

The German company has been using additive manufacturing for several years and has used the technology in the production of prototypes for over 30 years. Now thanks to several advancements, 3D printing is now an efficient method of creating spare parts for buses. At present, Daimler Buses claims to have 3D printed more than 40,000 spare parts . It is currently working on 7,000 more models, offering a pretty impressive library of 3D files. By developing mobile micro-factories, the company wishes to further expand its use of AM and offer a faster, more local, and more environmentally respectful manufacturing solution to its customers.

Thanks to additive manufacturing, the car manufacturer can store numerous digital spare parts and print them on demand (photo credits: Daimler Buses)

Daimler Buses and its mobile manufacturing unit

The twelve by three meter container would be easily transportable by truck and would require electricity and internet connection to operate. The first would integrate an HP Jet Fusion 4200 machine and a processing unit which ensures the mixing and loading of the material (here a polymer powder), that would also allows rapid cooling of the parts. While the second would be equipped with a powder removal solution, an air filter and an air conditioning system. The goal is to have everything in hand necessary in order to design quality components, from modeling to post-processing.