3D printing used by Rolls-Royce and BMW

With more than 10,000 additivelymanufactured parts built into the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the BMW Group has been using components from 3D printers in series production since 2012, and will continue to expand this pioneering role in the future.

The Additive Manufacturing Centre at the company’s Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ) has also been using these forming processes to produce parts for the new Rolls-Royce Dawn since the start of last year.

The BMW Group is steadily pursuing the evolution and use of advanced additive manufacturing methods. Planar 3D printing technologies will enable much faster production times and more economical production in the future.

Plastic holders for hazard-warning lights, centre lock buttons, electronic parking brakes and sockets for the Rolls-Royce Phantom have been made in this way since the start of production in 2012. Mounting brackets for fibre optic cables used in the Rolls-Royce Dawn have also been produced by 3D printers since the start of the year, and the company will install several thousand of these clips throughout the model lifecycle. RollsRoyce Motor Cars is a pioneer in the use of the most innovative production technologies of the future.

The advantages of additive manufacturing are visible early on, especially for components with a complicated design. Production times are significantly shorter than for conventional production methods, while still meeting the same high quality standards.