{"id":31738,"date":"2018-11-13T16:59:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T21:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/printing-the-future-of-rail-at-deutsche-bahn\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T16:59:01","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T21:59:01","slug":"3d-printing-the-future-of-rail-at-deutsche-bahn","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/3d-printing-the-future-of-rail-at-deutsche-bahn\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing the Future of Rail at Deutsche Bahn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deutsche Bahn (DB) is a German state-owned global mobility and logistics provider. Their passenger transport division moves 7 million rail passengers daily, with over 80% of those trips occurring in Germany.[1]<\/a> At the leading edge of adopting additive manufacturing (AM) in rail, DB has made a public commitment to incorporate this technology into its supply chain. While DB does not own its own 3D printers, it collaborates with industry to employ this technique.[2]<\/a> To date, AM has allowed DB to better manage parts availability to reduce rolling stock downtime and inventory costs.<\/p>\n

DB\u2019s annual report summarizes their AM strategy: \u201cTo maintain vehicles we need spare parts to be available immediately. Printing is faster and more flexible than conventional manufacturing processes and the vehicles are back in operation in no time at all.\u201d[3]<\/a> Maintenance demand for many rail components is irregular, often in small quantities, and missing parts are a problem. With traditional manufacturing and procurement processes, there is a clear tradeoff between the costs of holding excess inventory of spare parts and the potential for rolling stock downtime and missed trips. For many components, AM eliminates this tradeoff.<\/p>\n

The clearest opportunity for DB to employ AM in its supply chain is for older, out-of-production (obsolescent) parts for which replacement is unscheduled and missing parts are common.[4]<\/a> For Siemens-built ICE-1 trains manufactured from 1989 to 1993, AM has reduced ICE-1 train downtime when failures require replacement of some obsolete parts.[5]<\/a> Both Siemens and DB benefit from this technique. Siemens reported that 3D printing is cheaper, custom parts production is reduced from six weeks to thirteen hours, and Siemens no longer casts excess parts for its own inventory.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

DB has also found that the total costs of 3D printing can be below traditional manufacturing and procurement costs. For one component (a heat exchanger for electric trains), a DB study found that although the unit cost to procure these parts from traditional manufacturers was below the cost to print them with AM partner 3YourMind, reduced inventory carrying costs from just-in-time production offsets this initially lower procurement cost and justifies 3D printing.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Deutsche Bahn and BigRep discuss their partnership:<\/em><\/p>\n