Commenting on the BMW Group\u2019s investment in Desktop Metal, Uwe Higgen, Managing Partner of BMW Group\u2019s internal investment unit, said that additive manufacturing \u201cis shaping the way cars will be imagined, designed and manufactured\u201d [1]. Desktop Metal, a start-up co-founded by four professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2015, was the company to most quickly reach a valuation of more than $1 billion in the US [2]. It was no coincidence that an automaker was one of the first to invest in this company that pushes the boundaries of additive manufacturing.<\/p>\n
The automotive sector faces distinct challenges. While increasing price pressure has been addressed in previous decades with incremental improvements of economies of scale through consolidation of the supplier base [3] and increased platform sharing [4], recent market developments seem to require more radical solutions. Customers demand more frequent product launches due to global competition [5], governmental regulations have increased the pressure on car manufacturers to reduce emissions [6], and the concept of shared mobility has the potential to reduce the size of mature markets [7]. To resolve these issues, companies need to find innovative ways to shorten design cycles, decrease emissions through weight reduction, and, perhaps, increase the margin potential through reduced manufacturing costs. Many believe additive manufacturing could be the solution to these issues [8].<\/p>\n
BMW has always been at the forefront of material innovation. The company partnered with Boeing in 2012 to better understand the implications of heavy carbon fiber usage [9] and then invested \u20ac100 million in 2014 to build a plant dedicated to carbon fiber production [10]. It took a similar approach to additive manufacturing. After its first experiments in 1990, BMW continually introduced additive manufacturing for prototypes, partnered with leading companies [1] and universities [11], and selectively used the technology in series production [12]. Recently, BMW announced that it was opening a dedicated additive manufacturing center with in-house production capacity in 2019. The center, which is 6000 square meters in size, will accommodate 80 employees and will be equipped with over 30 production systems, allowing for large-scale production [13]. So far, BMW has used additive manufacturing for either high-end or small-scale applications in the i8 Roadster, MINI [13], and Rolls-Royce Dawn [14]. However, it seems that BMW\u2019s longer-term strategy is to enable decentralized production and true vehicle customization [15]. These capabilities would not only allow for a greater variety of product offerings and country-specific versions but also align BMW with the general social trend of individualization. The ability to produce a personalized car could provide the company with a superior competitive advantage and potential for upselling, which could serve as an effective measure against the threat of shared mobility. However, this strategy would imply that BMW regards additive manufacturing as a source of new products and innovative business models rather than a manufacturing process that helps to overcome the issues of existing product offerings.<\/p>\n
One of the challenges automotive companies face is that the economies of additive manufacturing are different than the economies of scale used by carmakers to maximize productivity. Accordingly, a product that has been designed to fit well with existing manufacturing processes is not necessarily comparable with a product that is optimized for the additive manufacturing process. Thus, to increase opportunities to use additive manufacturing in series production, BMW and other automotive companies need to reassess not only their manufacturing processes but also their products; new product designs using other materials, forms, colors, and textures might be better suited to additive manufacturing. However, established companies face a distinct obstacle when trying to imagine radically new product designs: an enormous amount of capital has been invested to refine the existing product design and the corresponding manufacturing process. The step change that is needed to make the product design and manufacturing process compatible with additive manufacturing requires further large capital investments and time. Established companies would need to discard great advancements on the learning curve and start fresh.<\/p>\n
The shift to electric cars is another step change that heavily affects the manufacturing process. So far, only a new market entrant, Tesla, has been able to accommodate this shift on a large scale. Tesla was able to rethink how its product should be designed and produced without any preexisting restriction. Perhaps a new market entrant is needed to imagine a new car design that allows additive manufacturing to become the solution for issues facing automotive series production, as many believe it to be. (737 words)<\/p>\n
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[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 E. Griffith, \u201cGoogle, BMW and Lowe\u2019s Invest in Metal 3D Printing Startup,\u201d 2017. [Online]. Available: http:\/\/fortune.com\/2017\/02\/06\/desktop-metal-funding\/. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n
[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 C. Schubarth, \u201cThese 10 unicorns flew the fastest to billion-dollar valuations,\u201d 2018. [Online]. Available: https:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/sanjose\/news\/2018\/05\/02\/unicorn-startups-desktop-metal-grail-essential.html. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n
[3]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A. Maurer, F. Dietz, and N. Lang, \u201cBeyond cost reduction: Reinventing the automotive OEM-supplier interface,\u201d 2004. [Online]. Available: https:\/\/www.bcg.com\/documents\/file14316.pdf.<\/p>\n
[4]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 D. Balu, \u201cAutomotive Platform Sharing: An Overview,\u201d 2004. [Online]. Available: http:\/\/www.frost.com\/sublib\/display-market-insight-top.do?id=20843788. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n
[5]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 BMW Group, \u201cAutomotive Product Development Cycles and the Need for Balance with the Regulatory Environment,\u201d 2017. [Online]. Available: https:\/\/www.cargroup.org\/automotive-product-development-cycles-and-the-need-for-balance-with-the-regulatory-environment\/. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n
[6]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 P. Nieuwenhuis and P. E. Wells, The automotive industry and the environment: a technical, business and social future<\/em>. Cambridge, U.K.: Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2003.<\/p>\n [7]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frost & Sullivan, \u201cGlobal Automotive Industry Outlook, 2018,\u201d 2018. [Online]. Available: https:\/\/cds-frost-com.prd1.ezproxy-prod.hbs.edu\/p\/71319\/#!\/ppt\/c?id=K26F-01-00-00-00. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n [8]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 C. W. J. Lim, K. Q. Le, Q. Lu, and C. H. Wong, \u201cAn Overview of 3-D Printing in Manufacturing, Aerospace, and Automotive Industries,\u201d IEEE Potentials<\/em>, 2016.<\/p>\n [9]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 E. Taylor and D. Lalor, \u201cBMW to collaborate with Boeing on carbon fiber,\u201d 2012. [Online]. Available: https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-boeing-bmw\/bmw-to-collaborate-with-boeing-on-carbon-fiber-idUSBRE8BB0IQ20121212. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n [10]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 MarketWatch, \u201cBMW, SGL to put \u20ac100 million into carbon fiber,\u201d 2014. [Online]. Available: http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/bmw-sgl-to-put-100-million-into-carbon-fiber-2014-02-17. [Accessed: 15-Apr-2014].<\/p>\n [11]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 BMW Group, \u201cPushing material boundaries. BMW and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Self-Assembly Lab collaborate to design the first printed inflatable material.\u201d [Online]. Available: https:\/\/www.press.bmwgroup.com\/global\/article\/detail\/T0281110EN\/pushing-material-boundaries-bmw-and-massachusetts-institute-of-technology-self-assembly-lab-collaborate-to-design-the-first-printed-inflatable-material?language=en. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n [12]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 J. Meister, \u201cBMW Examines Past, Present, Future Use of 3D Printing,\u201d 2015. [Online]. Available: https:\/\/www.ecnmag.com\/news\/2015\/11\/bmw-examines-past-present-future-use-3d-printing. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n [13]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 BMW Group, \u201cBMW Group plans Additive Manufacturing Campus: Technological expertise in industrial-scale 3D printing to be consolidated at new location,\u201d 2018. [Online]. Available: https:\/\/www.press.bmwgroup.com\/global\/article\/detail\/T0280159EN\/bmw-group-plans-additive-manufacturing-campus:-technological-expertise-in-industrial-scale-3d-printing-to-be-consolidated-at-new-location?language=en. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n [14]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 E. Richardson, \u201cBMW Group refines additive manufacturing on premium Rolls-Royce brand,\u201d 2017. [Online]. Available: http:\/\/www.ai-online.com\/Adv\/Previous\/show_issue.php?id=7533#sthash.uK7fzIw9.dpbs. [Accessed: 10-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n [15]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3Dnatives, \u201cBMW accelerates the integration of additive manufacturing into its production cycle,\u201d 2018. [Online]. Available: https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/bmw-additive-manufacturing190420184\/. [Accessed: 11-Nov-2018].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BMW Group seems to regard additive manufacturing as a source of new products and innovative business models rather than a manufacturing process to resolve existing issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11565,"featured_media":28659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[4102,3340,3463],"class_list":["post-28653","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3dprinting","category-additive-manufacturing","category-automotive-industry","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":"\n