Hyundai and Kia Open Dedicated Additive Manufacturing Center in South Korea

Hyundai Motor Group installed its first industrial 3D printer in 1996. Nearly 30 years later, Hyundai Motor and Kia have opened an entire facility dedicated to additive manufacturing research and production: the Additive Manufacturing Solution Center (AMSC), located at the Namyang R&D Center in South Korea.

The AMSC is one of four Namyang facilities Hyundai has been detailing in a series on its digital R&D infrastructure, alongside the Driving Simulator, the Digital Measuring Center and the NOVA Lab for electrical architecture validation. It resides in a newly built facility inside the Advanced Mobility Solutions building and runs both polymer and metal processes.

“We are rapidly internalizing additive manufacturing technologies through a growing range of applications across the Group. Beyond vehicle components, we are expanding their use in high-value applications such as equipment consumables and manufacturing tools.” – Hanwoo On, Senior Manager of the Additive Manufacturing Solutions Team, Hyundai Motor and Kia

Two Materials, One Facility

For polymer parts, the AMSC uses two vat photopolymerization techniques, digital light processing (DLP) and stereolithography (SLA), along with polymer powder bed fusion (polymer PBF). DLP and SLA handle the finely detailed work: design validation and prototypes where dimensional accuracy matters most. Polymer PBF is preferred for larger, more robust parts.