BMW has produced its millionth 3D-printed part since starting to use the manufacturing technology, also known as additive manufacturing, a decade ago. It is one of 200,000 parts the OEM will 3D-print this year – a 42% increase on the number produced last year.
While the number is low compared to the 30m parts the carmaker handles every day and will not have any real impact on inbound material flows, the carmaker said it looked forward to producing more parts directly where they were needed.
A spokesperson for the OEM, which has 3D printers operating across its production network, said 3D printed parts represented a first step towards local part production and pointed toward the production of components in Spartanburg (US), Shenyang (China) and Rayong (Thailand) as examples.