Responsible AM, an incredible opportunity

One more way that EOS worked to demonstrate the sustainability benefits of using AM was through a study that involved one of its customers, YOU MAWO, a maker of 3D printed eyewear, and the Fraunhofer Institute. The organizations conducted a systemic Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for YOU MAWO eyewear and concluded that the carbon footprint of a customized, 3D printed YOU MAWO eyewear is around 58% lower compared to conventionally manufactured eyewear. Furthermore, 3D printed eyewear creates 80% less waste compared to conventionally manufactured Acetate eyewear and can help to avoid lengthy post-processing. In addition, additively manufactured eyewear is lighter, more stable and has a higher wearing comfort.

According to Glasser, AM contributes to more local, sustainable, resilient and flexible production. One is that, if you consider the entire supply chain, The other, perhaps even more interestingly, is by rapidly enabling applications that can dramatically reduce energy consumption. “For example – Glasser reveals – we have an ongoing project with a partner to develop an air conditioning system for private use which has up ten times lower energy consumption. A private air conditioner costs around 2,000 euro and the cost of energy at normal prices were also about 2,000 euros per year. If we can reduce energy consumption to 500 or even to 200 euro per year, even if the newly developed system cost up to 3,000 euro, it would bring significant benefits, not just economic but also environmental.”

Decentralization is key as it ensures an uninterrupted supply chain but circularity is also a very important topic, for example in the footwear industry. By 2030 shoes will have to use 100% recycled materials. As circularity becomes more important, 3D printing will play a bigger role in production.

“On the hardware system front, there is work to be done in terms of energy efficiency, material efficiency, waste production, and refresh rate. One key aspect to consider is that, much like DfAM, sustainability should begin in the design phase. To support clients in this area, we can exclusively anticipate that EOS is developing a Carbon Calculator that will contain information from both systems and powders to give customers a clear estimate on their application’s carbon footprint. This will be presented at the upcoming Formnext trade show.”

Making energy work

…it’s very important for the industry to become more transparent and make more data available […] We believe that this technology can support sustainable development, and we need to understand how to make the most out of it.

Implementing Responsible Manufacturing

When looking more broadly at the AM process itself, Glasser points out that “the technology from EOS, or from most additive manufacturing processes, is responsible by design. We learned that AM can help with sustainability both in terms of product innovation, by driving adoption, and supply chain innovation, by implementing a digital value chain. We can now implement purpose-driven design with complex geometries and lightweight parts. We can have customization, such as in eyewear products, along with a ‘responsible value chain’. Almost every day we speak about this with customers looking for on-demand, decentralized production.”

EOS has taken a leadership role in implementing Responsible Manufacturing and Hannappel agrees that these topics are seeing a lot of traction in the general AM industry. This, he says “is really good because sustainability is such a huge challenge that one company alone cannot solve it.” AMGTA: the Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association was created for this reason and EOS was one of the very first members to join.

Sustainability, along with CSR policies, has become something of a constant in additive manufacturing over the past few years. Most AM companies see themselves as driving a revolution in the way the world makes everything and it makes logical sense that this revolution should be guided by some of the most pressing global issues and challenges: fighting climate change while ensuring a better quality of life for all. EOS, the leader in PBF technology, one of the most viable AM technologies for serial and mass customized part production, has taken a leadership role through what the company defines as “Responsible Manufacturing”. This is a broad concept that encompasses many aspects of what it will take for AM to drive the sustainable manufacturing revolution, from hardware and processes to materials and applications. And, of course, the people that make it happen, both clients and employees. Ahead of the upcoming AMTC conference, where EOS will discuss and present its policies and initiatives in detail, 3dpbm spoke with Markus Glasser, Senior Vice President EMEA, and Björn Hannappel, Head of Sustainability, to learn why Responsible Manufacturing is not a whim but a powerful strategy that will increasingly drive the company’s and the industry’s growth.

It’s easy to talk about sustainability but it’s more difficult to understand exactly what it means in practical terms. For Hannappel “it’s very important for the industry to become more transparent and make more data available: it’s easy to say that 3D printing is more sustainable and everyone likes that. But there are not yet enough elements to prove it. We believe that this technology can support sustainable development, but we need to understand how to make the most out of it.”

“Along with transparency and information, we need more research on how to make materials, machines and applications more sustainable. We’re working closely with our suppliers and customers,” Hannappel says. “At some point there needs to be more collaboration among competitors as well, generating a scaling effect. As the AM industry grows, all the good things we see on a small scale will have a much greater impact.

“This means that we want to have sustainable production while also benefiting local communities,” Glasser concludes. “Having this first carbon neutral polymer powder on the market is just the first step, it’s a good start for the industry, but of course much more has to be done. We need to work on the entire workflow, both on the polymer and metal side of things.”

Responsible by design

These are some of the external drivers, but the Responsible Manufacturing program also came from inside EOS, with the Langer founding family, and the CEO Marie Langer, making it a key focus area. The first layer of this strategy today is the company purpose and claim which consists in accelerating the transition to Responsible Manufacturing with industrial 3D printing. From an organizational perspective, the CEO decided to build a sustainability department, led by Hannappel. “We have a growing sustainability team and full support from senior management,” he explains. “We’re currently developing strategy targets and KPIs, which we are aligning and will announce early next year. That will be a major step forward in how we implement Responsible Manufacturing because that’s something we will push out into the public and we want to be measured by it.”

“We have been offering PA11 for 15-20 years,” Glasser says. “Initially it was for its material properties but over the past five to six years we have seen a different need, where material properties are combined with sustainability requirements. We now have a great opportunity as we are seeing large contract manufacturers position themselves as sustainable manufacturing partner. At the same time, this is what we all want: to secure the planet and improve people’s lives. It all sits very well together”.

Offering clients more sustainable materials is a key element in EOS’s growth strategy, something that no other PBF company can do to this extent and that’s what Markus Glasser, is betting on. “We’re working towards fully recycled powders and zero waste,” he tells us and while he admits that is still some time away, some practical commercial initiatives have already taken place, starting with the industry’s first certified carbon neutral powder, a PA11, developed by ALM and Arkema, that EOS presented at last year’s Formnext.

“If you look across all the countries in my area of responsibility, Europe, Middle East and Africa,” Glasser says, “there is a growing interest in sustainability, renewable energy and electrification initiatives for solar farms, wind energy or e-mobility and battery applications. Any innovation center that is opened in these countries with governmental support is bound to have a major focus on sustainable practices. AM companies will need to work closely with governments to continue in this direction.”