Laser system manufacturer Trumpf and engineering technology leader Siemens announced a new partnership to help industrialize laser metal fusion technology and make the additive manufacturing process for metal parts an integral part of the production process.

The two companies – who announced their partnership at the formnext trade fair in Frankfurt – are pooling their strengths and working together to develop a software solution for the design and preparation of 3D printed metal parts. The aim is to integrate and streamline the entire powder-bed-based laser metal fusion (LMF) process for Trumpf printing machines with Siemens NX software. The comprehensive offering will address part design and engineering for additive manufacturing as well as 3D print preparation with integrated Trumpf build processor technology.

Said Tony Hemmelgarn, CEO and President, Siemens PLM Software, “There will be no need for data conversion because the tools for design, simulation, 3D printing and NC programming of metal parts are integrated into one system.”

“These are decisive factors in making additive manufacturing a realistic proposition for industrial applications,” adds Peter Leibinger, Head of the Trumpf Laser Technology/Electronics Division. “Our partnership will result in an optimum interaction between machine and software so customers can move forward with designs optimized for additive manufacturing.”

The solution will integrate the recently announced NX software technology for additive manufacturing with the Trumpf build processor and be sold with Trumpf TruPrint Laser Metal Fusion printers. The new software offers a standard user interface across the end-to-end additive manufacturing process. It addresses the entire digital process chain in a single, integrated associative software environment, eliminating the need to use separate standalone applications for part design and data preparation. This software package, TruTops Print with NX, brings all the necessary functions together into one new solution for the additive manufacturing of laser metal fusion parts with Trumpf printing machines.

Trumpf
www.trumpf.com

Siemens AG
www.siemens.com