Concept for the reduction of non-value-adding operations in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF)

In additive manufacturing with metallic base material, Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) is an industrially established technology for tool-free production of complex and individualized components and products by applying material layer by layer. In addition to in-processing, the L-PBF process chain consists of several other process steps in pre- and post-processing. A holistic view of the additive manufacturing process chain shows that many process steps currently involve non-value-adding (NVA) operations and that there is generally great potential for reducing throughput times and costs. Due to the great importance of efficiency in industrial manufacturing process chains, this paper proposes a concept for analyzing the L-PBF process chain and deriving measures to eliminate NVA operations and increase the efficiency of value-adding (VA) operations. First, this paper presents a methodology for identifying VA and NVA operations that encompasses the entire chain. After the process mapping, the process steps are divided into sub-tasks to subsequently analyze them with regard to the level of automation. This analysis is the basis for selecting the appropriate automation strategy and optimizing the individual process steps by applying automation-aligned lean production methods to increase the proportion of VA operations. The potential for a significant increase in the productivity of the additive manufacturing process chain is demonstrated through systematic analysis and requirements-based optimization of the level of automation. The approach is structured in an adaptive manner so that, beyond the possibilities of lean production and automation, other optimization alternatives from further disciplines, such as digitization and networking, can be integrated.