Audi 2014 Annual Report Download - page 37

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Whether plastic or metal :
In the future, tools and
components will be produced
using the 3D printing process.
High-tech at the workplace :
The Chairless Chair will
relieve strain on employees
while they work.
PHOTOS : AUDI AG
Employees stand on the line for around eight
hours per shift. With the Chairless Chair, they
can also rest their feet every now and then
outside of their breaks and work while seated.
The carbon support weighs just around two
kilograms and is worn on the body. It is easy to
strap on and uses a simple hydraulic mecha-
nism to enable sitting without a chair. A proto-
type was successfully tested in Neckarsulm in
February .
KING
ALLY
Intelligent machines and data analyses
are also changing the automobile. They
reduce complexity and enable greater
individualization – even one-of-kind vehi-
cles. In the future, individualized parts
can come from a D printer for metal
materials. Audi engineers have been ex-
perimenting with this since . In this
system, the laser fuses a metallic powder
layer-by-layer to produce a fi nished part.
The technology is based on the laser
melting process that makes it possible
to produce bionic structures and material
properties that were all but impossible
to achieve with conventional production
methods. These reduce a car’s material
requirements and weight. But D printing
with polymer has been in use at Audi
for some time already. At the R factory
in Neckarsulm, employees can have
attachment aids, for example, printed
overnight at the Start-up and Analysis
Center. This achieves cost and time savings
of over  percent.