A Universal Machine: Enabling Digital Manufacturing with Laser Technology

The laser is the only tool that can address all six main manufacturing groups of the German standard DIN 8580 simply by applying different processing parameters. Given the present state of technology, however, different dedicated machine concepts are still being used for the respective applications. To enable digital manufacturing in its full consistency, novel, fully reconfigurable machines need to be developed. We therefore outline the further developments that are required to combine all presently known laser-based manufacturing processes on one and the same machine. As both the laser devices and the knowledge about the fundamentals of laser materials processing are already very advanced, research must now be intensified on system engineering. The vision is an intelligent machine, which is fed with CAD data, semi-finished products, or sub-components and that is capable to autonomously produce the desired components with a 100% quality guarantee at a batch size of 1 – “first time right” – and at the costs of comparable mass-produced items. The machine independently selects the best production strategy, i.e. the best combination and sequence of different manufacturing processes. Such a fully flexible and autonomous laser machine will not only boost the implementation of digital manufacturing on a broad scale and provide an approach to resolve the “polylemma of production” but will also enable the relocalization of value creation and manufacturing back into high-wage countries and by this potentially disrupt today’s globalized value creating networks.