Sponsored post: Fine-Tuning the Factory - A Simulation App Helps Optimise an Additive Manufacturing Facility

History teaches that the Industrial Revolution began in England in the mid-18th century. While that era of sooty foundries and mills is long past, manufacturing remains essential — and challenging. One promising way to meet modern industrial challenges is by using additive manufacturing (AM) processes, such as powder bed fusion and other emerging techniques. To fulfill its promise of rapid, precise and customisable production, AM demands more than just a retooling of factory equipment; it also calls for new approaches to factory operation and management.  

That is why Britain’s Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) has enhanced its in-house metal powder bed fusion AM facility with a simulation model and app to help factory staff make informed decisions about its operation. The app, built using the Application Builder in the COMSOL Multiphysics® software, shows the potential for pairing a full-scale AM factory with a so-called “digital twin” of itself.

"The model helps predict how heat and humidity inside a powder bed fusion factory may affect product quality and worker safety," says Adam Holloway, a technology manager within the MTC's modelling team. "When combined with data feeds from our facility, the app helps us integrate predictive modelling into day-to-day decision-making." The MTC project demonstrates the benefits of placing simulation directly into the hands of today's industrial workforce and shows how simulation could help shape the future of manufacturing.