“We see this opportunity to collaborate as a win for the companies and TUM, as well as for the region,” said Dr. Christian Bruch, Executive Vice President & CEO of Linde Engineering. “We expect the new hub will bring jobs to the area, while also delivering new technologies and capabilities to the companies located here.”
New Additive Manufacturing Institute
As one of the first initiatives enabled by the AM cluster, Oerlikon and TUM are creating a new research institute. The Additive Manufacturing Institute will focus on interdisciplinary research in raw material powders, optimized AM production and end-to-end process integration, including automation and AM digitalization. Oerlikon engineers and scientists will work hand in hand with researchers and students at various TUM faculties (mainly mechanical engineering, but also chemical engineering, the physics department and informatics) to address all aspects of AM research and production. This will include the verification and qualification of products and the development of new AM business models.
“An integrated collaboration between powerful partners from industry and science is necessary for the industrialization of additive manufacturing processes,” explains Prof. Dr. Thomas Hofmann, President of TUM. “This is the only way we will be able to overcome technological obstacles and find answers to unresolved issues in the field of standardization.”
Like the cluster, the research institute will also be open for research cooperation with academia and industry once the initial frameworks have been established. The aim is to broaden the international network and encourage an architecture of open partnership.
The new additive manufacturing cluster and research institute are being highlighted at the Munich Technology Conference (MTC3), which is currently taking place at the Technical University of Munich in Germany (October 8-10, 2019). The conference this year addresses the industrialization of additive manufacturing and features top speakers from the industry, academia and political sectors.
