Cooperating with innovative startups is becoming increasingly important for established companies. When it comes to the construction of additively manufactured assembly aids, for example, Audi relies on a program that was developed together with the 3D printing specialist trinckle . The car manufacturer hopes that this will make the process 80% faster compared to manual component modeling in conventional CAD software: the new program is expected to make the design of pre-assembly devices possible without special CAD knowledge.

Audi cites the production of 3D-printed work aids equipped with integrated clamps for the pre-assembly of air-conditioning compressors or cooling pipes as a concrete field of application for the e-tron GT. The auxiliary tools allow a single employee on the production line to precisely align all the components with each other – a process that previously required a colleague to lend a hand. Audi plans to extend the new concept to the entire Group.