EOS, a 30-years veteran in high-quality AM, looks forward to a mutually beneficial partnership with Phillips and has exciting expansion plans in India.
Mr. Anand Prakasham
Country Manager, EOS India
■ EOS is globally championing the Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology. Is the Indian market adopting it?
Additive Manufacturing is a key manufacturing technology, being globally adopted for a new value proposition to products and customers. EOS, a pioneer of AM for 30 years, brought AM from prototyping to manufacturing using end-to-end process chain covering machine, materials and process parameters. The early adopters were Aerospace, Space, Dental and Medical. EOS certifies the AM components’ mechanical properties.
EOS spends 50+ million Euros in R&D annually and believes that their key differentiator is ‘Quality.’ In India, initially, the Dental industries adopted Metal AM in production. Then, Aerospace and Space acted similarly. Medical and Tooling also embraced it. Gradually, every Indian industry is adopting AM.
■ Has EOS changed the Indian AM market? What are your market expansion plans?
EOS provides solutions not machine tools. In India, we began 20 years back using technology for proto-moulds/proto-parts. Now, we focus on end products and production moulds. We have educated the market and have an 80% market share.
The hurdle to adopt Metal AM is the inability of right component selection. No knowledge base exists to use AM principles to design. EOS was the first company having a part selection and a DFAM program to help Indian industries adopt AM. We are proud that 90+% Indians related to Metal AM have learned from EOS. We will develop custom materials and machines by creating business cases. We believe that the Tooling industry will adopt AM. We have a tooling package as per its requirements. Custom medical implants are promising. As per a study, Indian hospitals want 14,000 customs implants monthly. Our expansion will be based on consulting, solution development, tooling and medical.
■ What are the latest EOS products in India?
EOS offers polymer and metal solutions. Our machines have platforms for varying market requirements and budgets. Our M400-4 is a 4-laser machine focused on tooling, automotive and tire moulds. Our P810 machine runs the PAEK material, used in aerospace and medical applications. We developed a software, EOSPRINT 2.2, with high productivity and segmentation.
■ Does the EOS-Phillips partnership benefit the Indian industry?
EOS believes that AM cannot replace CNC but be a complementary technology. We wanted an Indian partner with knowledge of selling machinery to production facilities while offering a solution of AM+CNC machines. Our Phillips partnership is crucial because Phillips has an excellent Indian background. We collectively devise special financial options.
■ How will Industry 4.0 revolutionize Indian manufacturing? What is your role here?
AM should be connected with the factory floor using latest technologies. We are developing a modular system for customers to first buy a complete unit and later the print modules. They can save on Capex and have a smart factory to move from one operation to another using RFID interfaces.
EOS has developed reference point calibration software to move components from an AM machine to a CNC machine without re-referencing it and vice versa. The EOS QMS can give alerts on users’ mobiles. QMMS devices from various locations can monitor systems. EOS is the only company offering tangible Industry 4.0 solutions. We will be soon ready to address this for different domains.