The possibilities and limitations of conventional manufacturing processes strongly determine the design process and often lead to devices and products that do not fully exploit their theoretical potentials, e.g. their resistance to flow. Laser Additive Manufacturing is a manufacturing process to produce parts out of metallic powder materials. The technology is on the threshold to industrial maturity and has the potential to enable novel approaches for production and engineering. Thus, a shift from production-oriented design towards a design-oriented selection of the manufacturing process is possible.
