Cost-oriented planning of equipment for selective laser melting (SLM) in production lines

Abstract

Equipment for selective laser melting (SLM) has mainly been developed for applications in rapid prototyping. This paper provides a methodology for a cost-oriented optimisation and planning of SLM equipment for series production lines. The approach thus supports the transition to more productive and cost-efficient equipment.The paper presents a two-step methodology: at first, setup time is reduced using heuristic rules based on the activity node network plan. Afterwards, the build-up time is optimised by cost and performance parameters like laser power and build chamber size. Using the presented methodology rules for a cost-oriented SLM-equipment can be derived.