Audi expects significant reduction in prototyping lead times for tail light covers, with turnaround times decreasing up to 50% in comparison to traditional methods

The vivid colors of the Stratasys J750 3D Printer enables Audi to produce transparent, multi-colored parts meeting texture and color-matching requirements of its stringent design approval process

MINNEAPOLIS & REHOVOT, Israel — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 7, 2018 — Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) today announced that the Audi Pre-Series Center with its Plastics 3D Printing Center in Ingolstadt, Germany, will leverage the world’s only full-color, multi-material 3D printer – the Stratasys J750 – to innovate its design process and accelerate design verification. For the production of tail light covers, Audi expects to reduce prototyping lead times by up to 50 percent.

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The Audi Plastics 3D Printing Center will use the unique J750 3D Printer to produce ultra-realistic, multi-colored, transparent tail light covers in a single print (Photo: Business Wire)

Before a new vehicle goes into production, the Audi Pre-Series Center in Ingolstadt builds physical models and prototypes for the brand to evaluate new designs and concepts thoroughly. This requires allocation of most parts of the vehicle in an early stage of product development – everything from wheel covers and door handles to radiator grills. Traditional methods, such as molding and milling, are commonly used to create and replicate new designs. However, the use of plastics 3D printing has become an integral part of the automotive design process at the Audi Pre-Series Center, enabling the team to overcome limitations of conventional processes and accelerate design verification.

In the case of tail light covers, the team traditionally used milling or molding to produce individual parts. The main challenge with these production techniques are the multi-colored covers of the tail light housing. These individual color parts must be assembled, as they cannot be produced in one-piece. This time-intensive process increases lead times for design verification and subsequently delays time-to-market.

Ultra-realistic color, multi-material prototyping accelerates design

Streamlining the process, the Audi Plastics 3D Printing Center will use Stratasys’ J750 full-color, multi-material 3D printing. This will enable production of entirely transparent, multi-colored tail light covers in a single print, eliminating the need for its previous multi-step process. With over 500,000 color combinations available, the team can 3D print transparent parts in multiple colors and textures that meet the stringent requirements of the Audi design approval process.

“Design is one of the most important buying decisions for Audi customers, therefore it’s crucial we adhere to supreme quality standards during the design and concept phase of vehicle development,” explains Dr. Tim Spiering, Head of the Audi Plastics 3D Printing Center. “As a result, we need prototypes to have exact part geometries, no distortion and extremely high quality, as well as true-to-part color and transparency. The Stratasys J750 3D Printer will offer us a significant advantage, as it allows us to print the exact textures and colors our design defines. This is essential for getting design concepts approved for production. In terms of 3D printing transparent parts, I have not seen a comparable technology that meets our standards.”

“Using the J750 for the prototyping of tail light covers, we will be able to accelerate our design verification process,” continues Spiering. “We estimate time-savings of up to 50 percent by using this 3D print technique in our prototyping process of tail light covers.”

Dr. Spiering and his 24-member team are responsible for providing all plastics 3D printing expertise, advice and production at Audi. Having invested in its first Stratasys FDM 3D Printer in 2002, the division has since grown its portfolio to ten polymer 3D printers, including a range of Stratasys FDM and PolyJet 3D Printers.

Andy Middleton, President EMEA, Stratasys, concludes: “Audi is a prime example of how our unique full color, multi-material 3D printing technology can combine several design processes into one, rapidly accelerating development cycles. If you extend the time-savings achieved by Audi on the tail lights to other parts of the vehicle, the overall impact on time-to-market can be huge. We’re excited to see how Audi continues to leverage our FDM and PolyJet technologies into new application areas to further increase efficiencies across its development process.”

Stratasys is a global leader in additive technology solutions for industries including Aerospace, Automotive, Healthcare, Consumer Products and Education. For nearly 30 years, a deep and ongoing focus on customers’ business requirements has fueled purposeful innovations — 1,200 granted and pending additive technology patents to date — that create new value across product lifecycle processes, from design prototypes to manufacturing tools and final production parts. The Stratasys 3D printing ecosystem of solutions and expertise — advanced materials; software with voxel level control; precise, repeatable and reliable FDM and PolyJet 3D printers; application-based expert services; on-demand parts and industry-defining partnerships — works to ensure seamless integration into each customer’s evolving workflow. Fulfilling the real-world potential of additive, Stratasys delivers breakthrough industry-specific applications that accelerate business processes, optimize value chains and drive business performance improvements for thousands of future-ready leaders. Corporate headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota and Rehovot, Israel. Online at:  www.stratasys.com , http://blog.stratasys.com  and LinkedIn .