AI Control Enables Faster, More Even Infrared Heating for Complex TPC Parts

For nearly two centuries, KraussMaffei has been helping manufacturers push the boundaries of industrial production. Founded in Munich, Germany, the company has established itself as a global technology leader in injection molding, automation and plastics processing. Over the years, however, the demand for lighter, stronger and more sustainable products encouraged it to look beyond conventional plastics and explore the possibilities of advanced composites.

As automotive manufacturers sought alternatives to steel and aluminum, aerospace companies pursued higher levels of lightweighting and industrial manufacturers searched for stronger and more efficient structures. As a result, over time continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites (TPC) have emerged as one of the most promising material platforms. Unlike thermoset composites, thermoplastic composites (TPC) offer short processing times, excellent impact resistance, weldability and the potential for recycling. These characteristics make them especially attractive for high-volume production environments where manufacturing speed is often as important as structural performance.

Recognizing this opportunity early, KraussMaffei developed FiberForm, an integrated manufacturing technology that combines TPC forming and injection molding within a single automated production cell. What began as a novel approach to hybrid lightweight structures has evolved into a proven industrial manufacturing platform used in automotive, sporting goods and aerospace applications.

FiberForm: Combining composites and injection molding

The FiberForm process was developed around a simple but powerful concept: Combine the strength and stiffness of continuous fiber TPC laminates with the design flexibility and functional integration capabilities of injection molding.

The process consists of six automated manufacturing stages:

1. Organosheet pickup
2. Infrared heating
3. Transfer into the mold
4. Thermoforming
5. Injection overmolding
6. Part removal

By integrating these operations into a single manufacturing workflow, FiberForm enables highly efficient production of hybrid structures that combine continuous fiber reinforcement with molded ribs, bosses, attachment points and other functional features.

Unlike many composites manufacturing technologies that require dedicated equipment and lengthy processing cycles, FiberForm can be integrated into standard KraussMaffei injection molding platforms. This compatibility has helped accelerate adoption because manufacturers have the opportunity to leverage existing automation and molding expertise while gaining the structural benefits of TPC.

Demonstrating industrial scalability

The maturation of FiberForm can be measured through the progression of its applications. Early programs focused on validating the manufacturing concept and demonstrating that continuous fiber TPC structures could be integrated into production environments. These applications typically involved specialty products with relatively modest production volumes.

One example was the Marker Kingpin ski binding, a demanding sporting goods application that required high stiffness, durability and low weight. FiberForm enabled the integration of continuous fiber reinforcement with highly engineered overmolded features, demonstrating that hybrid composite structures could be manufactured economically at annual volumes approaching 100,000 units.

The technology subsequently advanced into automotive production programs. A major milestone was the Mercedes-AMG GT seat shell, manufactured using a FiberForm production cell combining a TPC organosheet with glass fiber-reinforced overmolded features. The resulting design achieved more than 36% weight savings while meeting demanding structural performance requirements and integrating metallic inserts directly into the manufacturing process.

Another significant program was the Ford Focus door module carrier, developed through collaboration among mechatronic supplier Brose (Coburg), auto company ElringKlinger (Dettingen an der Erms, Germany) and KraussMaffei. This application demonstrated that TPC technology could meet automotive requirements for productivity, quality and consistency while delivering meaningful lightweighting benefits. This project also illustrated FiberForm’s ability to transition from development concepts into true industrial-scale manufacturing.

Today, FiberForm applications range from low-volume specialty products to manufacturing programs producing more than 1 million parts annually. This progression reflects not only increasing confidence in TPC but also the robustness of the manufacturing platform itself.

The emergence of tailored organosheets

As FiberForm matured, designers began pursuing increasingly sophisticated composite architectures.

Rather than using uniform laminates with consistent thickness across an entire component, engineers started applying loadpath optimization methodologies inspired by nature and enabled by advanced simulation tools. Material could be placed only where structural loads demanded reinforcement, reducing weight while maintaining performance.

The result was the emergence of tailored organosheets incorporating:

• Variable wall thicknesses
• Local reinforcement patches
• Hybrid material combinations
• Recycled carbon fiber reinforcements
• Loadpath-optimized laminate configurations

These engineered semi-finished products create tremendous opportunities for improving stiffness-to-weight ratios and reducing material use. They also support sustainability objectives through optimized material utilization and the incorporation of recycled materials. However, these benefits come at a cost: thermal complexity.

Why heating suddenly became difficult

For many years, heating was viewed as a relatively straightforward stage of TPC processing. Conventional infrared ovens were developed around homogeneous laminates where material properties and thickness remain relatively constant across the blank. Under those conditions, uniform energy input produces acceptable temperature distributions and consistent forming results. Tailored organosheets fundamentally change this situation.

A locally reinforced region possesses significantly more thermal mass than a surrounding thin section. Multiple laminate architectures may exist within the same component. Different materials absorb and retain heat differently. As a result, different regions of the part demand different amounts of energy to reach the desired processing temperature.

Manufacturers using conventional heating systems often encounter a familiar dilemma: How to apply enough energy to fully heat the thickest regions while avoiding overheating thinner sections. The challenge is compounded by the chimney effect that occurs in vertical ovens. Because hot air naturally rises, portions of the organosheet located near the top of the oven tend to heat more quickly than those positioned lower in the system. While manageable for simple laminates, this behavior becomes increasingly problematic as part complexity increases and process windows narrow.

Historically, manufacturers have addressed these challenges through longer cycles, conservative temperature settings and wider process tolerances. But these approaches reduce productivity and limit design freedom.

Developing OsTOS

Recognizing that tailored organosheets required a new approach, KraussMaffei and ITA Augsburg (technical university in Augsburg, Germany) began developing the Oven System for Tailored Organo Sheets, known as OsTOS.

Rather than treating every square inch of a composite blank identically, OsTOS approaches heating as a highly localized and dynamically controlled process. The objective is not merely to heat the part but to bring every region to the correct processing temperature at precisely the right time.

To achieve this goal, OsTOS combines three key technologies:

• High-resolution infrared heating
• Thermographic process monitoring
• AI-supported process control

Together, these technologies create a smarter, more adaptive heating environment capable of handling increasingly sophisticated organosheet designs.

 

A central innovation within OsTOS is the transition from traditional infrared emitters to a high-resolution spot-heating architecture.

Conventional ovens typically employ relatively large heating zones. While effective for many applications, these systems offer limited ability to tailor heating profiles to local material conditions.

The KraussMaffei approach uses individually controllable spot emitters that provide approximately 25X greater control resolution than traditional systems. This enables localized energy input precisely where it is needed. Reinforcement patches receive additional energy while thinner sections receive less. The resulting temperature profile more closely matches the thermal requirements of the actual part geometry.

This capability becomes especially valuable when processing heavily optimized structures where local laminate variations would otherwise create significant temperature gradients.

Notably, OsTOS also expands the sensor landscape of traditional systems — typically relying on pyrometers to monitor individual points within the oven — through the integration of thermographic cameras. Instead of seeing only a few measurement points, operators gain visibility across the entire organosheet surface. Thermal images are generated both before and after heating, creating comprehensive insight into temperature distribution and process behavior.

This full-field monitoring helps identify disturbances, validate heating performance and provides the data necessary for advanced process optimization.

Synchronizing temperature arrival

OsTOS also addresses the challenges faced when ensuring that all regions of a TPC part reach processing temperature simultaneously via OsTOS’ heating zone synchronization and dynamic adjustment of local energy input throughout the heating cycle. The objective is to ensure that all critical regions approach the target temperature together, so that engineers don’t have to choose between waiting for slower regions to catch up or risking thermal overshoot in faster-heating sections.

In conventional systems, some areas may reach the target temperature early while others remain comparatively cool. Engineers must choose between waiting for slower regions to catch up or risking thermal overshoot in faster-heating sections. This synchronized approach improves thermoforming consistency, reduces thermal gradients and creates more stable processing conditions.

Internal development work has demonstrated improvements in temperature homogeneity, reducing variation from approximately 15°C to approximately 5°C across the heated blank. Such improvements directly influence forming quality, dimensional stability and process repeatability.

Self-learning process control

Perhaps the most significant advancement lies in the integration of AI. Rather than relying exclusively on fixed recipes, the OsTOS platform incorporates a multistage learning strategy.

First, the system learns the behavior of the oven itself. Next, it learns the thermal behavior of a specific organosheet configuration. Finally, it continuously refines process parameters during production using comparisons between predicted and measured thermal responses. This creates a self-learning process capable of adapting to changing conditions.

If a temperature target is consistently exceeded, heating behavior can be adjusted automatically. If environmental factors affect thermal performance, compensation can occur without extensive operator intervention. As additional production data becomes available, model accuracy improves and process control becomes increasingly refined.

The result is reduced setup time, fewer teach-in cycles and improved process consistency.

 

Why FiberForm uses vertical infrared heating

A common question concerns KraussMaffei’s continued use of vertical infrared heating within FiberForm systems. The answer is largely driven by automation and manufacturing efficiency.

Vertical heating systems occupy a smaller footprint while supporting double-sided heating of the organosheet. The geometry also integrates naturally with robotic handling systems, enabling efficient transfer between heating and forming operations. Minimizing transfer time is particularly important because it helps preserve thermal consistency and reduce temperature loss.

Furthermore, the vertical arrangement simplifies cell layout and enhances accessibility for automated handling systems operating within high-volume production environments.

The challenge, of course, is managing temperature gradients associated with natural heat rise. This is precisely where OsTOS’ intelligent control strategy provides value by actively compensating for such effects during the heating process.

The future of intelligent composites manufacturing

The development of OsTOS reflects a broader transition occurring throughout advanced manufacturing. Manufacturers increasingly seek not only faster production but also deeper process understanding, digital traceability and predictive control. Heating systems are becoming data-generating assets capable of contributing valuable information to broader manufacturing intelligence platforms.

Future TPC cells will likely integrate heating, thermoforming, overmolding and quality assurance within connected digital ecosystems. Process data generated at every stage will support predictive maintenance, adaptive process control and accelerated qualification of new applications.

For TPC, this evolution is especially important. As materials become more sophisticated and designers continue pushing the boundaries of lightweighting, manufacturing systems must become capable of handling increasing complexity rather than avoiding it.

By combining decades of FiberForm experience with high-resolution heating, thermographic monitoring and AI-supported process control, KraussMaffei is demonstrating how advanced thermal management can help unlock the next generation of TPC production. What was once considered a simple heating step is rapidly becoming one of the most important enablers of high-performance, high-volume composites manufacturing.