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AM at GKN Sinter Metals
GKN Sinter Metals: Global Tier 1 automotive supplier anticipates opportunities for Additive Manufacturing GKN Sinter Metals, with more than 6,000 employees at 30 locations worldwide, is the world’s leading Powder Metallurgy group. The company produces 11 million PM parts per day, with around 80% going into the automotive industry. The company started its metal Additive Manufacturing activities at its Innovation Centre in Radevormwald, Germany, in 2013. Dr Georg Schlieper visited the centre on behalf of Metal AM magazine and reports on the company’s AM activities and ambitions.
Radevormwald, a small town in the rural hills of the region known as Bergisches Land, is located in the western part of Germany, not far from the cities Cologne and Düsseldorf on the Rhine River and close to the Ruhr region. The town has longstanding connections to Powder Metallurgy through Sintermetallwerk Krebsöge, the predecessor of the current GKN Sinter Metals plant. Powder Metallurgy parts, porous filters and self-lubricating bearings are produced here in extremely high volumes and the plant has an international reputation as a pioneer in the development and early adoption of cutting-edge Powder Metallurgy technologies. These technological developments included powder forging for the production of high-performance components such as connecting rods in the 1980s and Metal Injection Moulding for high volume automotive applications in the 1990s, as well as the development of PM aluminium components.
Vol. 2 No. 2 © 2016 Inovar Communications Ltd
GKN Sinter Metals Engineering GmbH is responsible for new Powder Metallurgy related process and product developments within the global GKN Sinter Metals Group. The GKN Innovation Centre, constructed in Radevormwald in 2004 and the home of GKN Sinter
Metals Advanced Engineering, is an architectural highlight (Fig. 1). With its convex glass front, the building resembles a huge eye overlooking the countryside. The building, which incorporates blue steel beams and expansive windows, communicates clearly that this is the home of
Fig. 1 The GKN Innovation Centre in Radevormwald (Courtesy GKN)
Metal Additive Manufacturing | Summer 2016
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