Dr. Yuan Zhong

Expert Additive Manufacturing Specialist, Aftermarket Technology Volvo Group

Dr. Yuan Zhong is an enthusiast of accelerating the application of additive manufacturing (AM) in industry with more than 13 years of experience. He is both an experienced engineer and a knowledgeable researcher in the AM field. Prior to joining Volvo Group, Yuan was a researcher at Stockholm University in Sweden focusing on solving the fundamental scientific problem of AM for industrial partners. He was involved in many national and international AM projects addressing design for AM, material development, product printing, post processing and part qualification. He acquired a strong know-how in material science and in identifying the best technology for the right industrial application.

Joining Volvo Group in 2020 with the aim of further disseminating AM in the automotive industry, a s the expert AM specialist he is currently leading the activity of using AM to help the company's service market with the whole value chain of AM. Volvo Group is printing thousands of parts every year to support its prototyping, production and aftermarket needs. Yuan and his cross-functional teammates are creating novel AM solutions for the Volvo aftermarket business: vehicle off road (VOR) cases, back orders, supply crisis and the spare part assortment maintenance. The team is constantly releasing new AM end-user spare parts to customers. The novel AM solution not only brings benefits of shorter lead time, saved total cost of ownership, more flexible supply chain but also contributes to a more sustainable spare part lifecycle.

Dr. Zhong has been published in 20 scientific journals with more than 2,500 citations and 9 filed patents. Dr. Zhong’s story with AM was most recently published by the European agency Fusion for Energy stemming from his previous achievements in the energy sector and his new journey in the automotive industry.