Manufacturing technologies are used to manufacture workpieces and other geometrically defined solid bodies. Manufacturing technologies include casting, coating, moulding, forming, machining, joining, or additive manufacturing etc.
Machining processes — such as sawing, drilling and grinding — date back to the Stone Age. At the beginning of the 20th century, mass production was introduced by means of assembly lines. Today, additive manufacturing, the digital factory, lean manufacturing, and lightweight construction are main focal points of research development. Please also refer to our page on additive manufacturing (3D printing).
People have aimed for faster, more precise, and more cost-effective production. New manufacturing processes are constantly added to this optimization process, or existing manufacturing processes are recombined. Manufacturing technologies are also strongly linked to advances in related sciences, such as materials science or computer science.
A patent application can be filed for both manufacturing processes (e.g. a deep-drawing process for the production of coffee capsules) and the necessary manufacturing machines. Often, it is even possible to patent the products and to achieve a monopoly in the consumer markets. Due to the broad technical knowledge of our patent attorneys, we can offer comprehensive patent law advice in the interdisciplinary field of manufacturing technologies:
