Basf and Miele collaborate to produce 3D printed parts on demand

Replique, a venture company born out of the chemical company BASF’s business incubator Chemovator, has partnered with German home appliance manufacturer Miele to produce and deliver through its decentralized production network3D printingAccessories.Through this collaboration, Replique’s3D printingThe platform will be integrated into Miele’s online store, enabling the company to provide its customers with new3D printingAccessories and spare parts.The two partners are said to be the first to implement Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for polymer parts used in food contact applications.3D printing, Starting with the first three accessories-a coffee clip, a drill cleaner and a valuable separator for vacuum cleaner attachments.

“So far, competing companies have only provided fragmented solutions,” said David Buhl, innovation management manager at Miele Room Care. “Replique is the only partner who has an in-depth understanding of the entire process and has a suitable network to provide turnkey solutions. Their business model is scalable, and we expect to expand our presence in Germany, Europe and even the world in a short period of time. Business”.

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3D printingThe coffee clip comes in two sizes, valuable separator and wellbore cleaner material. Polyethylene terephthalate, modified with ethylene glycol (PETG). Photo courtesy of Replique

3D printingSpare parts and accessories

The statement of cooperation between Replique and Miele is a timely one, because the new EU legislation gives consumers the “right to repair” the goods they buy, which will come into effect later this summer. According to the new law, companies that sell consumer electronics products in the European Union will be obliged to ensure that these products can be repaired for up to ten years to avoid problems with planned obsolescence and large amounts of electrical waste. According to some people in the additive manufacturing industry,3D printingThe spare parts can help consumer appliance manufacturers comply with the regulations, while avoiding the physical inventory of a large number of replacement parts and subsequent costs.On-demand3D printingParts and their digital inventory can also help enhance the resilience of future supply chains, and distributed digital manufacturing networks can play a key role in future crises, just like the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some other industries have begun to adopt3D printingspare parts.For example, the multinational automobile company Daimler AG has created a mobile3D printingCenter for decentralized production of spare parts. The Dutch Navy has also recently invested in3D printingTechnology to improve its ability to produce spare parts on demand.Elsewhere, Sauber Engineering has announced plans to establish a3D printingBusiness for the production of spare parts for classic cars on demand. The French National Railway Company (SNCF) has3D printingsoftwareDeveloper 3YOURMIND’s Agile PLM additive manufacturing platform is used for spare parts production.

Daimler Bus has created a mobile printing center for decentralized production3D printingParts. The photo is from Daimler.

Miele’s3D printingapplication

Miele is a leading manufacturer of high-end home appliances. Its products include cooking equipment, refrigerators, dishwashers and drum washing machines. In May last year, the company launched the 3D4U project, which aims to provide customers with the design of 3D printable accessories for their electrical appliances for free.Due to the increasing demand for this service, the company decided to expand the scale of the project,3D printingMachine customers provide such3D printingproduct. Therefore, Miele has now cooperated with Replique, a company that was born in BASF’s internal Chemovator incubator and was conceived by the employees of the Data2Value team of BASF’s digital team.

Replique provides an industry3D printingPlatform that enables OEMs to use their globally dispersed3D printingThe network provides its customers on-demand3D printingpart. By integrating the Replique platform into its online store, the idea is that Miele will no longer need to store a large number of parts in a warehouse, but can store the designs of these parts in a digital inventory and use additive manufacturing to produce on demand . Replique’s platform will provide Miele3D printingProcess, material knowledge and quality assurance, and provide digitally supported order fulfillment, as well as simple integration with the company’s existing ERP and e-commerce processes.

The cooperation between the two parties will start with three accessories in the Miele online store, namely coffee holders, drill cleaners and precious separators for vacuum accessories. Replique will be able to qualify the printing process according to the required specifications for each application. Coffee clamps are also certifying food contact by providing a GMP-compliant manufacturing process. “Authentication3D printingThe process is a complex topic that has not really been considered in the food approval field,” said Dr. Max Siebert, co-founder of Replique. “In cooperation with our partner Forward AM, we are the first to implement GMP3D printingProcess3D printingSolution provider, so you can guarantee a high degree of process reliability. “

Except for the first three3D printingIn addition to accessories, the two companies also plan to expand the product range on the platform later this year.

(Editor in charge: admin)