Method and system for lubricating and forming a metal component from sheet metal

A method of manufacturing a metal component, the method comprising:

• performing a computer simulation of a stamping process to be performed on a sheet metal blank, the computer simulation calculating a strain map of the sheet metal blank for the stamping process;
• generating a lubrication program based on the strain map, the lubrication program being configured to control a print head to apply lubrication to sheet metal material so that the lubrication has a thickness that varies across the sheet metal material, the thickness being correlated to the strain map;
• applying lubrication to the sheet metal material according to the lubrication program;
• cutting the sheet metal material into a predetermined shape to define the sheet metal blank;
• and
• stamping the sheet metal blank to form the metal component,
• wherein the lubrication program is configured to control the print head to apply a first thickness of lubrication to a first region of the sheet metal material and to apply a second thickness of lubrication to a second region of the sheet metal material, the first thickness being thicker than the second thickness, wherein the first region of the sheet metal material correlates to a region of the strain map that has higher strain than a region of the strain map that correlates to the second region of the sheet metal material.