Automotive: EvoBus – Additive manufacturing is a core element of sustainable spare parts management
Establishing a sustainable spare parts management system with additive manufacturing
Starting point
For years, the Customer Services &
Parts (CSP) unit of EvoBus GmbH has
been confronted with rising costs for
warehousing and logistics, as well
as long lead times. These challenges
are driven by the company's
increasingly broad portfolio, coupled
with its promise to customers to
supply spare parts for buses over a
period of more than 15 years, even
after series production has been
discontinued. EvoBus currently
manages over 320,000 active spare
parts, many of which are kept on
stock – and this number is continually growing. Minimum purchase
volumes frequently lead to overproduction.
In many cases, the company
is forced to purchase 15, 20, or even
100 parts, even though only one is
required. This dependency on innumerable
suppliers causes a great deal
of uncertainty: with repeat orders,
there is the risk that the supplier no
longer has access to the necessary
blueprints and tools, or that financial
modifications may be required.
With conventional production
processes, finding an answer to
the growing challenges in the field of Customer Services & Parts
(CSP) would be far more difficult
for EvoBus GmbH. By contrast,
the company sees a great deal of
potential in the production flexibility
offered by additive manufacturing:
“By implementing 3D printing within
our CSP business model, we hope to
reduce the rising warehousing and
tool costs caused by our growing
inventory of omnibus spare parts,
while also continuing to improve
supply performance to our end
customers," says Ralf Anderhofstadt,
Project Manager CSP 3D-Druck.
Project
To implement additive manufacturing
into their CSP business model,
EvoBus chose to rely on the expertise
of Additive Minds, the largest
team of AM experts in the world.
Additive Minds provided support at
various levels: by hosting workshops
and off-site support events, Additive
Minds examined the customer's
entire supply chain and determined
how EvoBus could exploit the
potential of industrial 3D printing
to the fullest. In close collaboration
with the customer, Additive Minds
prepared an economic feasibility
assessment of the project within
just a few months. Throughout this
period, the Additive Minds experts
leveraged the extensive experience
gained from over 250 projects across
various industries worldwide.
One of the early workshops focused
on a systematic approach to selecting
the components suitable for
additive manufacturing. By applying
a “part screening and selection"
methodology developed by Additive
Minds and used in more than 50
customer projects across numerous
industries, EvoBus identified a total
of 2,600 such parts. Of these, 35
metal and polymer components
were selected for an initial implementation
phase. Since no digital
blueprints existed for many of these
spare parts, Additive Minds and
EvoBus jointly examined the available
options for digitization through
reverse engineering and analyzed
potential service providers for this
purpose. These efforts led to a separate
subproject: how can additive
manufacturing be used to create the
surfaces of interior parts, which are
typically structured? The sustained
close cooperation between Additive
Minds and the CSP 3D-Druck project
enabled Daimler Buses to find
solutions to all the questions that
cropped up over the course of the
project. The material selection process
was just as successful: the team
determined that the polymer PA2200
could be used for a certain number
of components with specific flame
protection requirements. However,
for the majority of applications, the
team concluded that a new type of
material would need to be qualified
to meet the strict flame protection
regulations of the automotive
manufacturing sector. EOS and the
EvoBus CSP 3D-Druck project have
already begun working together on a
joint solution.
A pilot project to manufacture the
first batch of components was
successfully realized at EOS in
June 2017. This was an important
milestone - reached earlier than
expected: “Our collaboration with
Additive Minds on the CSP 3D-Druck
project considerably accelerated
our work right up to the technical
and economic proof-of-concept
stage, enabling us to focus on and
tackle a broad range of topics," says
Anderhofstadt.The next objective of the project is
to start making additively manufactured
components directly at the
end customer. Although a centralized
production scenario at the Daimler
plant is envisaged for the time being,
plans to position the printer directly
at BusWorld Homes and outside
organizations are being considered
for the medium term.
Outlook
Industrial 3D printing has already solved many of the current CSP challenges faced by EvoBus. In the long term, it also has the potential to increase the company's profitability and innovative strength, as well as safeguarding its pioneering role. As the project continues, EvoBus's additive manufacturing portfolio will be expanded to include additional spare parts made from polymers and metals. Another phase of the project will also fully digitize any remaining analog components to improve the overall efficiency of the spare parts division of the business.
End customers also benefit: thanks to the shorter lead times, the unproductive downtime of their buses is reduced to the bare minimum. Moreover, additive manufacturing allows the complexity and functional integrity of the produced parts to be optimized, empowering EvoBus GmbH to respond even more effectively to specialized customer requirements in future.
Ralf Anderhofstadt,
Projektleiter CSP 3D-Druck
Short profile
EvoBus GmbH is the largest European subsidiary of Daimler AG. With brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Setra, OMNIplus and BusStore, it is the leading full-line provider on the omnibus market, both in Europe and worldwide. As part of the Daimler Buses division, EvoBus GmbH is Europe's largest omnibus manufacturer and one of the leaders worldwide.Further information
www.evobus.comContact

Electro Optical Systems
Wiebke Jensen
Robert-Stirling-Ring 1
D-82152 München
Phone +49 89 893 36 2485
wiebke.jensen@eos.info
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