Infosys (a leading engineering and IT services company) (www.infosys.com) and Renishaw (a world leader in metrology and additive-manufacturing technologies) (www.renishaw.com) have announced a strategic partnership to offer an ‘end to end’ product development service using metal additive-manufacturing (AM) technology.

The two companies are combining their engineering expertise and global resources to help customers accelerate their deployment of AM (also known as 3-D printing) for the volume production of end-use metal components.

Infosys will apply its efficient engineering processes and ‘design for AM’ knowledge to manage product development projects from concept through to launch.

Renishaw will support Infosys through its global network of Additive Manufacturing Solutions Centres, which provide access to the latest Renishaw metal-AM technology, backed by application engineering expertise, post-processing capability, and metrology.

The companies say that, while AM is changing the way that components are made, its bigger impact is on the design of products themselves, allowing the manufacture of products that: are lighter and more efficient in their use of resources; facilitate exceptional heat transfer; are integrated with fewer joints for greater reliability; or are customised to adapt perfectly to a specific application.

Sudip Singh, global head of engineering services at Infosys, says these gains in product capability are transforming AM into a mainstream manufacturing technology, used in the series production of high-performance parts for aerospace, medical, automotive, oil and gas, mould-and-die and consumer products.

“Additive manufacturing enables us to design and make innovative products with spectacular gains in performance and efficiency. Infosys has developed a rich knowledge base of AM-design best practices, coupled with powerful design tools to analyse and optimise product designs, so that we can take full advantage of the flexibility that AM offers.”

Renishaw’s network of Solutions Centres — located across Europe, North America and Asia — provides cost-effective access to machinery, facilities and AM expertise.

Equipped with the latest AM machines and staffed with knowledgeable engineers, the Solutions Centres provide a confidential development environment in which firms can explore the benefits that additive manufacturing can bring to their products, and quickly build their knowledge and confidence in AM as a production technology.

Marc Saunders, director of Renishaw’s global Solutions Centres, says: “While additive manufacturing can create complex geometries in a single process step, some level of finishing is generally required to produce functional products.

“Renishaw’s knowledge of metrology, machining and finishing processes can help customers to develop an integrated manufacturing solution for their new products.”