{"id":27932,"date":"2018-11-12T10:54:48","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T15:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/would-you-trust-3d-printed-brakes-on-your-sports-car-bmw-thinks-so\/"},"modified":"2018-11-12T10:54:48","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T15:54:48","slug":"bmw-bets-on-3d-printing-your-next-sports-car","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/bmw-bets-on-3d-printing-your-next-sports-car\/","title":{"rendered":"BMW Bets on 3D Printing your Next Sports Car"},"content":{"rendered":"

Additive manufacturing and its economic uses<\/strong><\/p>\n

Additive manufacturing (also called 3D printing) was developed in the 1980s, but only recently it has captured the attention of managers and broader society [1]. In layman terms, additive manufacturing consists of printing layers of metals\/polymers, instead of molding and cutting away material [2].<\/p>\n

In its infancy, 3D printing was extremely costly, and used mostly in low cost-sensitive applications with little regard to reliability. However, as patents expired, startups fueled by venture capital entered the market, creating technologies that are faster, more capable, and affordable than ever [3].\u00a0With those technological breakthroughs, additive manufacturing’s economic uses have been broadened to include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Highly engineered and customized products\u00a0<\/em>– e.g., GE’s new turboprop engine uses 3D printing to consolidate 855 individual parts into 12 components, shaving off over 100 pounds in weight, improving fuel efficiency by 20 percent, and adding 10 percent more power [4]<\/li>\n
  2. Low-volume products with high setup production costs\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0<\/strong>e.g., spare parts for vintage cars, such as Porsche 959, are extremely scarce due to the low number of vehicles produced (292 in total). Prior to additive manufacturing, every time a part was needed, Porsche would have to stop production, pull out old molds and produce a small batch to serve future needs, at a very high cost. 3D printing enables the car manufacturer to reduce the high setup and inventory costs associated with traditional processes [5].<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    BMW as a first-mover in additive manufacturing in the auto industry<\/strong><\/p>\n

    As BMW Group navigates how to extract value from additive manufacturing across its brands, management has already shown the ability to incorporate 3D printing into series production, a major milestone for any auto company [6].<\/p>\n

    With its flagship electric car BMW i8 Roadster, BMW became the first auto manufacturer to use additive manufacturing for a production run of several thousand metal parts, producing a convertible cover that is both lighter and more rigid than traditional molding technology would be able to produce [7].\u00a0BMW Group also incorporated 3D printing to its higher-end brand, Rolls-Royce, proving that the technology is able to produce complex designs without compromising on quality; the Rolls-Royce Phantom Series II has been assembled with the aid of additive manufacturing since 2012 [8].<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Source:\u00a0“BMW Group Plans Additive Manufacturing Campus: Technological Expertise in Industrial-Scale 3D Printing to be Consolidated at New Location.” 2018.M2 Presswire<\/i>, Apr 16. http:\/\/search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu\/docview\/2025323053?accountid=11311.<\/h6>\n

    In April of 2018, BMW announced it is to invest over 10 million euros in a new\u00a0Additive Manufacturing Campus<\/em>, located just north of its headquarters in Munich. The move will concentrate the Group’s printing expertise in one center that will accommodate up to 80 employees. The team will evaluate new use cases for additive manufacturing, and develop them to “series maturity” [9].<\/p>\n

    Furthermore, BMW’s venture capital arm, called BMW iVentures, has been investing heavily in 3D printing startups, such as Carbon, Desktop Metal, and Xometry. Those investments (all in the past 3 years) will offer the company access to new technologies that have the potential to completely transform the way additive manufacturing is used in mass production [10].<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Untapped opportunities\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Although BMW has shown promise in using additive manufacturing to date, it should not rest on its laurels; the organization is yet to capitalize on opportunities offered by 3D printing across its supply chain.\u00a0According to DHL, excess and rarely used stock can add up to more than 20 percent of total inventory [11]. That issue is particularly prevalent in the auto industry, in which spare parts are kept in multiple locations across the world (from dealerships to OEM’s warehouses) in case a customer needs it.<\/p>\n

    The auto spare parts issue up to today has been a trade-off between service level and cost; the higher the required service level, the higher is the cost incurred by the company to serve its customers. For instance, BMW might choose to keep rare parts of its most luxurious cars in almost every dealership to ensure serving their high-end customers in less than a day, in case of a malfunction. That service level come at steep costs to the company and its supply chain, tying cash to slow-moving inventory.<\/p>\n

    BMW should invest in developing additive manufacturing capabilities across its supply chain to reduce slow-moving inventory of spare parts. The company should develop 3D files of those rare parts and set up 3D printers in its highest selling dealership in each region; that would allow the company to serve its customers in 1-2 days, and drastically reduce inventory costs.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Source:\u00a0“BMW Group Plans Additive Manufacturing Campus: Technological Expertise in Industrial-Scale 3D Printing to be Consolidated at New Location.” 2018.M2 Presswire<\/i>, Apr 16. http:\/\/search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu\/docview\/2025323053?accountid=11311.<\/h6>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Concerns about the future of additive manufacturing\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    While it is clear that additive manufacturing has shown potential to create value in the auto industry, a few questions remain unanswered. First, how to mitigate the intellectual property risk of having digital 3D files of parts that cost thousands (if not millions) to be developed? Second, how to re-train the workforce in a world where additive manufacturing represents 5-10% of the production processes?<\/p>\n

    (798 words)<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    [1] Bonn\u00edn-Roca, Jaime, Parth Vaishnav, Joana Mendon\u00e7a, and Granger Morgan. 2017. “Getting Past the Hype about 3-D Printing.” MIT Sloan Management Review<\/i> 58 (3) (Spring): 57-62. http:\/\/search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu\/docview\/1885885282?accountid=11311.<\/p>\n

    [2] Pooler, Michael. “3D Printing Starts to Gain Traction in Industrial Tool Kits.” Financial Times. April 23, 2017. Accessed November 12, 2018. https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/3d009438-26a5-11e7-8691-d5f7e0cd0a16.<\/p>\n

    [3]\u00a0Brown, Alan S. 2018. \u201cChain Reaction: Why Additive Manufacturing Is about to Transform the Supply Chain.\u201d Mechanical Engineering<\/i> 140 (10): 30\u201335. http:\/\/ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu\/login?url=http:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=132029167&site=ehost-live&scope=site.<\/p>\n

    [4] Ibid.<\/p>\n

    [5] Ibid.<\/p>\n

    [6]\u00a0Richardson, Ed. 2017. “BMW Group Refines Additive Manufacturing on Premium Rolls-Royce Brand.” Automotive Industries<\/i> 196 (3) (09): 32-32,34. http:\/\/search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu\/docview\/1938049293?accountid=11311.<\/p>\n

    [7] Ibid.<\/p>\n

    [8] Ibid.<\/p>\n

    [9]\u00a0“BMW Group Plans Additive Manufacturing Campus: Technological Expertise in Industrial-Scale 3D Printing to be Consolidated at New Location.” 2018.M2 Presswire<\/i>, Apr 16. http:\/\/search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu\/docview\/2025323053?accountid=11311.<\/p>\n

    [10] Ibid.<\/p>\n

    [11] Brown, Alan S. 2018. \u201cChain Reaction: Why Additive Manufacturing Is about to Transform the Supply Chain.\u201d Mechanical Engineering<\/i> 140 (10): 30\u201335. http:\/\/ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu\/login?url=http:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=132029167&site=ehost-live&scope=site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Additive Manufacturing (i.e., 3D printing) has been around for 30 years, why is it such a hot topic nowadays? BMW is eager to capitalize on recent technological advances to be the front runner in automotive additive manufacturing, but how will it mitigate the intellectual property risk of having digital 3D files of its highly-engineered parts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11538,"featured_media":27936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[4102,3340,2271,1302,161,2557],"class_list":["post-27932","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3dprinting","category-additive-manufacturing","category-auto-industry","category-bmw","category-manufacturing","category-mechanical-engineering","hck-taxonomy-organization-bmw","hck-taxonomy-industry-auto","hck-taxonomy-country-germany"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/rc-tom-challenge-2018\/","yoast_head":"\nBMW Bets on 3D Printing your Next Sports Car - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/bmw-bets-on-3d-printing-your-next-sports-car\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BMW Bets on 3D Printing your Next Sports Car - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Additive Manufacturing (i.e., 3D printing) has been around for 30 years, why is it such a hot topic nowadays? 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