At our stand in Hall 12.0 we’ll display a racing car built by the University of Paderborn’s Formula Student team that illustrates how engineers can exploit the unique capabilities of additive manufacturing and achieve track-ready quality as part of a complete process that goes from design and engineering right through to production and inspection.

Visitors to our stand will be able to see how our innovative MSC Apex Generative Design software helped the team automatically optimize the lightweight design of the car’s polymer accelerator pedal and metal wheel carrier, before preparation for additive manufacturing using Digimat and MaterialCenter  and Simufact Additive software respectively.

There will also be a demonstration of storing and managing additive manufacturing data with full traceability – a crucial feature that enables manufacturers to pinpoint the origin of any errors by tracking the production process from the material to CAD file through to printing.

We’ll print composite pedals directly on the stand and EDGECAM software  will be ready to show how the wheel carrier is prepared in computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software for finishing. The Hexagon Inspire metrology software will complete the process by comparing the original CAD design and the finished part, which has been scanned by Hexagon’s Absolute Arm.

The benefits of additive manufacturing extend far beyond the automotive industry, of course, and we’ll also show what it can do for other sectors.

Watch how Digimat-AM software simulates the build of a polymer accelerator pedal to avoid 3D print manufacturing issues: