OECHSLER Expands Production Capacity for Polymer-based Additive Series

OECHSLER AG, a polymers technology group with a global presence and headquarters in Ansbach/Middle Franconia, is extending its partnership with the U.S. additive manufacturing company Carbon and their production capacity for a large polymer-based additive series production facilities. 

Since 2004, the OECHSLER Group has been operating a production site in Taicang, near the metropolis of Shanghai, China. When expanding 3D printing as a manufacturing technology, the implementation of a global production infrastructure was a key criterion for the polymer specialist.

The industrialization of additive manufacturing is OECHSLER’s second pillar; it was initiated in 2016 and implemented in Germany in 15 months then mirrored in the Chinese production facility a few months later. Within 8 months, a series production with 120 industrial printers from Carbon was set up. The additive series production in Taicang covers a production area of 1,800 square meters, representing a large Carbon printing fleet in series production globally.

OECHSLER and Carbon have worked with end customers to develop 3D-printed end customer products and convert them into series production as part of this collaboration. These include projects such as shoe soles, damping elements for American football helmets for a U.S. sporting goods manufacturer and bicycle saddles. Due to its high production capacities, OECHSLER's Asian site is of importance for the strategic partnership between the two industrial pioneers. 

The extension of the partnership between Carbon and OECHSLER is accompanied by a double-digit million investment by the Franconian medium-sized company in the Chinese AM site. As a result, the production capacity is expanded to over 2 million parts per year.       

“Carbon’s Production Network partners worldwide are an essential pillar of the Carbon ecosystem," says Phil DeSimone, co-founder and member of the Office of the CEO at Carbon. "With OECHSLER, we have a strong partnership that enables additive series production and real innovation. By extending our strategic partnership, we can not only further optimize our idea-to-production platform, but we can open up new markets together."

Carbon Idea-to-Production Platform 

3D printing pioneer Carbon has a portfolio consisting of industrial printers, resin materials and software, such as Design Engine, which facilitates the creation of Lattice structures. During the printing, liquid resin is applied continuously with DLS technology and cured under the influence of UV light and oxygen. As part of additive series production, OECHLSER has already been able to produce seven different applications in one day. 

The “Idea-to-production” platform is made available by Carbon through a subscription model. 

“I am convinced that in addition to financial predictability in terms of acquisition and maintenance cost, Carbon’s subscription model offers great benefits in the rapidly evolving Additive Manufacturing industry, including real-time support and integrated services packages at no extra costs, and, most importantly, continuous performance improvement through over-the-air updates,” says Dr. Claudius Kozlik, CEO of OECHSLER.

Oechsler and Carbon Plan Entry Into new Markets

The extension of the strategic partnership between Carbon and OECHSLER is intended to advance product and process development on both sides to make innovation and production more resource-efficient and realize optimizations, the companies report. The companies plan to jointly open up new markets and support designers and engineers to develop products in the long term. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.