Post processing OEMs can integrate additive manufacturing

September 1, 2021 7:53 pm

Auto sector growth results in more production for machine tool industry.

What kind of metal joining technologies are gaining momentum in the industry?

Metal joining technologies are used in sectors such as auto, energy, oil and gas, earthmoving, agriculture, aerospace, etc. Laser welding, portable laser welding, friction stir welding, Hybrid welding processes; Electron beam, etc. are joining technologies that are gaining momentum in the manufacturing industry.

What indigenous plans are in process to increase the demand for local manufacturing of parts and components for the aerospace industry?

The Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 envisages achieving a turnover of around $23 billion including export of about $4.7 billion in aerospace and defence goods and services by 2025.

Government of Karnataka is coming up with a new aerospace and defence policy to encourage global corporations that already have a presence in the Aerospace Park and aerospace special zone on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Aequs in Belagavi, Karnataka operates a global aerospace ecosystem with vertically integrated capabilities. Its customers include OEMs like Boeing and Airbus. Aequs specialises in forging, precision machining of actuation systems, landing gear and engine components, surface treatments, and aero structure assemblies.

For LCA, Tejas is being manufactured by HAL, local manufacturing units have been identified to manufacture and supply parts.

Other cities such as Hyderabad and Chennai are also emerging as aerospace hubs attracting investments from large corporations for manufacturing aero-structures, fuselage, and engine spare parts.

How is the role of CAD and CAM instrumental for machine tools market growth?

CAD / CAM are used by OEMs for machine parts designs, subsystem design, finite element designing. CAM is used for general optimised machining parameters to get best quality part at lowest cost by imparting quality. Apart from the above, software tools are also used for visualisation, modelling and simulation of parts and sub-systems.

Additive manufacturing is the rising segment for its advantages. Where do you see your role in your scene?

OEMs have built parts using metal additive manufacturing for space and aerospace industry. They are also developing metal additive manufacturing machines as one of the verticals for metal parts. Post processing OEMs can integrate additive manufacturing and metal cutting and build hybrid machines.

Do you expect increasing growth of the cutting tools market as of now though industry was impacted during pandemic times?

Auto sector growth results in more production for machine tool industry as more machines are required. As the consumption of machine tools and manufacturing sector growth increases, there will be an increased demand for cutting tools. There is an increase in demand for cutting tools of different material and properties from aerospace and defence industries which are using heat resistant steel, composite materials, exotic and hard to machine materials.