Additive
production
Bowman Additive, part of Bowman International, is adding value to the group’s core business of bearing
design and supply, innovating via plastic additive manufacturing and replacing what is traditionally a
pressed metal part. It is set to multiply the company’s turnover many-fold. Andrew Allcock has the details
A novel range of split bearing is demonstration of
those new manufacturing possibilities, on show at the
recent The Engineer Expo show in June, and is a product
development that is expected to underpin massive
growth for the company. Currently a £10 million,
35-employee operation (including its German operation
and Kingswinford-based John Handley Bearings, a split
bearings reseller acquired in April 2017 and through
whom the new split bearings are offered), Turner
suggests the company could see a turnover gure of
£100 million in ve years. “We anticipate being a market
leader within ve years, and that’s conservative.” But as
of now, the company is, compared to the global rolling
element bearing makers, “an absolute minnow”, accepts
additive manufacturing development manager James
Ashby of Bowman Additive (www.bowmanap.com).
So how does additive manufacturing (AM) of plastic
parts underpin that transformation? Well, to begin with,
Bowman’s plastics-based AM journey actually started in
2015, two years prior to the of cial launch of its own
activity, with the rm getting some sample 3D-printed
Above: James
Ashby, additive
manufacturing
development
manager,
holding a highend
speaker
system part
produced on
the company’s
HP Jet Fusion
4200 machine
– the fi rst of
many such
machines that
will be installed
Bowman International’s bearing activities have their
roots in the 1970s, with a speciality in plain, Oilite
sintered bronze bearings, supplying these through
distribution. And while these days they are manufactured
overseas, the company has much manufacturing process
expertise that it brings to bear, de ning manufacturing
processes and process control criteria, explains head of
additive production Jacob Turner.
The company’s additive manufacturing capability was
launched of cially in July 2017, following the purchase of
a selective laser sintering system that could produce
complex geometries from engineering grade polymer
materials. At the time, Bowman International managing
director Paul Mitchell said: “Our investment into additive
manufacturing marks a pivotal point in the future
development of the Bowman International name. We are
proud innovators within our marketplace and look
forward to exploring the new manufacturing possibilities
which are now within our remit.” This new operation
takes in both an external service and the production of
new bearing designs on its own account.
10 October 2019 www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets
All photos: Andrew Allcock
/(www.bowmanap.com)
/www.machinery.co.uk