KraussMaffei expands composites, plastics capabilities at Brighton, Michigan facility

The powerPrint system at KraussMaffei’s Brighton, Michigan facility. Source (All Images) | KraussMaffei

KraussMaffei (Brighton, Mich., U.S. and Parsdorf, Germany) has expanded its composites and plastics capabilities at its production facility in Brighton, Michigan, with the installation of a powerPrint large-format additive manufacturing (AM) system, thermoforming machine and Edgefold technology.

The company’s powerPrint system, which was launched commercially in 2023 out of KraussMaffei’s headquarters in Germany, is its first system in the U.S. and is used for demonstrations, R&D and prototypes. The company also offers its customers full-service training, including Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) and process control.

During an open house event at its Brighton facility, KraussMaffei demonstrated the use of its powerPrint system to manufacture a series of chairs made from glass fiber-filled ABS.

The powerPrint system is a large-format, gantry-style, single-screw extrusion-based printer with a build volume of up to 2 × 2.5 × 2 meters, flow rates up to 70 kilograms/hour and heated multi-zone print plates.

The pellet-based system is compatible with a wide range of pre-qualified thermoplastic materials, both fiber-filled and unfilled. These include carbon fiber, glass fiber and recycled PETG reinforcing PEI, ABS, PC, PP and more. KraussMaffei’s Brighton team is also able to work with customers to test and qualify new materials.

These systems have already been used by customers to produce high-quality, 3D printed parts such as molds, tools and jigs; and custom end-use industrial parts like transport pallets and pipe fittings.

“This system perfectly fits in with KraussMaffei’s focus areas of automation and extrusion,” explained Dan Rozelman, technical and application sales manager, at a recent open house at the Brighton facility. “One of the powerPrint system’s biggest benefits is the high quality and level of control we’re able to maintain with our extruder. This includes intricate interlacing of the layers at the edges and around curves.”

In addition to the powerPrint system, the Brighton facility has also acquired a Kiefel Lab thermoforming machine. Hans Scholko, general manager at the Brighton site, explains that this machine is capable of vacuum thermoforming and trimming vinyl components such as automotive instrument panels, white goods and other industrial components.

Scholko adds that this laboratory addition is one of the most advanced vacuum thermoformers currently in North America. This machine pairs with the company’s new Edgefold machine and equipment, which were developed in Brighton.

These latest technologies add to the Brighton facility’s capabilities for supplying a variety of tooling technologies such as foam tooling, punch and trim, assembly fixtures and more.