# Advances in Multi-Process Hybrid Production Cells for Rapid Individualised Laser-Based Production
## 5 Conclusions  
Three manufacturing pilot lines were created in the framework of HyProCell. The pilot lines were intended to give European industry access to proven Hybrid LBAM solutions and manufacturing, allowing the opportunity to test and validate ideas and new products prior to market entry. The pilot lines aim to increase the productivity of machine and production line manufacturers and their clients (OEMs), especially during design and ramp-up phases, as the project deals with the integration of machines and production lines. The main conclusions and lessons learnt are grouped in three categories: General, SLM pilot, and LMD pilot. In general:  
1. Modularity and reconfigurable hybrid AM production cell is a reality; however, such solutions are useful for certain business cases, not as a general solution for all cases. 2. The main limitation for hybrid AM industrial production of large and heavy parts is the additive manufacturing process and the intervention of operators. With the ADIRA machine and its modifications to operate in HyProCell, the build size restrictions and operability are significantly tackled. The solutions developed for transfer and handling of these parts were shown to be robust, efficient, and accurate. In addition, the MES developed in HyProCell opens new possibilities for automating the zeroing of AM machines and getting a stock of available build plates. The missing bricks to be included in future versions of the MES are: ability to manage substrates \begin{table}
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**HyProCell Objectives** & **KPI** & **Measured (Value or Feature)** & **Comments** \\ \hline
1. More flexible and reconfigurable LBAM focused production cells & Capacity of the cells to be reconfigurable & Yes, modular architecture developed, validated, and demonstrated & Guaranteed flexibility for quick cell reconfiguration \\ \hline
2. Reduce the time required to develop manufacturing procedures for new products & Time to develop new products & With CAx toolboxes deployed and with LBAM machines modified and tested for both LMD and SLM use cases, a reduction of time-to-develop new product from weeks to days was observed & Different toolboxes developed to drive the manufacturing processes (hybrid AM workflow) in the entire value chain with the HyProCell approach \\ \hline
3. Decrease downtime by 50\% when SLM is the process involved in part production & Downtime for production of Hybrid SLM parts & Downtime in HyProCell Hybrid SLM cell: \(\downarrow\)110 min (35\%) & Best results achieved in one of the use cases. Comparisons against conventional AM route \\ \hline
4. Increase the incomes coming from functional parts provided to industry from the current 10\% to \(>\)50\% & Production productivity & Full use of AM machines and robots would lead to a productivity & 8-10 SLM machines are required to take full advantage of the increase in Hybrid SLM. However, more rigorous analysis covering the entire value chain with HyProCell workflow is required to evaluate incomes from functional parts \\ \hline
5. Extend the type of components manufactured by LBAM based on the new automated hybrid production workflow & Capacity to manufacture different part geometries and sizes for different sectors & Yes, the capacity to produce six (6) different parts from three (3) sectors was demonstrated: four (4) in Hybrid SLM and two (2) in Hybrid LMP pilot cell & New automated Hybrid AM production workflow developed in HyProCell can be extrapolated to a wide range of components manufactured by LBAM \\ \hline
6. Improve data management, allowing a better monitoring of process data and cell performance through data mining & Improved production cell performance after optimisation through data mining & Solutions based on algorithms for data analytics were developed, but more data mining during TIM machine life/operation is needed to foresee improvements in production time and part quality \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
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