Lightweight Construction in Germany
Automation is the shining star…
Industrial automation is critical for minimizing costs in lightweighting. Engineering and tooling are Germany’s flagship industries.
Industrial automation | © Fraunhofer Institute for Production and Automation (IPA), Stuttgart
- Sensors, actuators and Big Data processing facilitate lighter construction and allow unique functions based on new solutions in design and production.
- “Plattform Industrie 4.0” is a nation-wide infrastructure that supports also the lightweight industries. The platform sets standards & norms, creates a legal framework that ensures safety issues and solves skill mismatches.
Aerospace sets the pace…
Aerospace has been traditionally the catalyst for lightweight design. The R&D-driven German aerospace industry is continuously raising demand.
Development of sales and employment in German Aerospace | © XXX
Automotive is the future promise …
Electric mobility desperately needs lightweight design to raise a car’s performance. With a total of 40 EV worldwide, 29 are from German OEM´s
Electric mobility desperately needs lightweight design to raise a car’s performance. | © NPE; Germany Trade and Invest Research (2016); ILK Dresden (FOREL Study)
New technologies will be core enablers…
The complexity of lightweight design needs new production technologies. Germany hosts more world market leaders in 3-D printing than any other.
- Industrial 3-D printing will enhance lightweight design to new levels.
- It will increase rapid response to markets, overcome design restrictions and increase construction complexity. Supply chains will be compressed producing a just-in-time quantity of parts by keeping the flexibility to change product design.
