The Defense Logistics Agency Weapons Support Product Test Center in Columbus, Ohio has integrated additive manufacturing into its quality assurance operations, reducing fixture production times from months to hours and freeing up staff capacity in the process.
The facility tests around 3,000 items per year across its electronics and mechanical labs, with a 30-day window to clear each item. Custom fixtures are required for virtually every component that comes through, and until September 2024, those were produced through a process that could take several weeks to several months depending on geometry and material complexity.
To address the fixture bottleneck, the PTC approached DLA Research and Development, which responded by launching the Tools for Testing initiative, a programme designed to provide the necessary equipment and technical assistance to get 3D printing and laser scanning operations up and running. DLA R&D Director David Koch described it as a straightforward opportunity to improve how DLA operates, with the first phase focused on equipping the electronics lab and demonstrating the technology’s value before expanding further.
From Subtractive to Additive
The arrival of a Stratasys Fortus 450mc FDM printer and a metrology-grade 3D laser scanner changed the equation. A fixture that once required weeks of machining can now be designed in roughly an hour and printed in as little as six hours. The cost reduction has been equally significant, up to ten fixtures can now be produced for the price of manufacturing a single one through traditional methods.
The shift has also expanded the material palette available to engineers. Where aluminum and acrylic were previously standard, the lab now works with thermoplastics including ASA, ABS, PEI, and ABS-ESD7, the latter specifically formulated to dissipate static charges in under two seconds, critical for testing sensitive electronic components.
“In the past, we were mostly working in aluminum and acrylic, but now we are creating fixtures in heavy-duty thermoplastics with properties that can withstand the rigors of the types of testing we do here,” electronics engineer Kendall Callahan remarked.
Phase Two Brings Metal Printing and CT Scanning
A second phase of the Tools for Testing initiative, funded by DLA Research and Development, is set for completion in March 2027 and will extend capability further. The mechanical lab will receive a metal powder bed fusion printer capable of producing fixtures for high-pressure and tensile load testing, a CT scanner for non-destructive dimensional inspection, and a smaller prototyping printer. The electronics lab will receive an automated benchtop 3D scanner and maintenance on its existing Stratasys unit.
The CT scanner in particular addresses a longstanding constraint: the ability to measure internal dimensions without destroying protective coatings applied by manufacturers, preserving parts for eventual delivery to the services. The incoming metal printer will also expand the lab’s material range beyond thermoplastics into aluminum, nickel, and other metal alloys.
“The metal printer’s powder bed fusion process will help us print fixtures for testing that we can’t currently do,” Kedric Jones, an electronics engineer for the DLA Electronics PTC lab explained. “For example, with a metal printer, we will be able to print fixtures for higher pressure testing and tensile loads. And it will allow for simultaneous printing.”
3D Printing Is Redefining Military Quality Assurance
The challenge the DLA’s Columbus lab is solving, how to verify parts fast enough to keep up with operational demand, sits at the centre of a broader problem the US defence sector has been working to address. Quality assurance has long been the bottleneck that slows additive manufacturing adoption in military supply chains, and closing that gap has become a strategic priority.
The DoD’s additive manufacturing strategy identifies quality assurance improvement , from raw materials management to final part validation, as one of its core objectives, alongside protecting the digital thread that connects design to production.
The US Navy has been evaluating sensor fusion approaches to quality assurance in additive manufacturing, with the goal of generating sufficient confidence in 3D printed parts to meet acceptance thresholds for inclusion in the supply chain.
On the certification side, the University of Oklahoma and Oak Ridge National Laboratory were awarded $8.8 million to overhaul how additively manufactured components earn airworthiness certification, replacing a fragmented material-by-material evaluation process with end-to-end digital tracking across machines and facilities, with AI and real-time in-process monitoring added to the quality assurance framework.
The DLA’s Columbus expansion fits squarely within that framework: faster fixture production and non-destructive inspection are not incremental improvements, they are the infrastructure that makes additive manufacturing viable as a verified supply chain tool, not just a prototyping shortcut.
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Featured image shows Stratasys Fortus 450mc FDM printer at the DLA Product Testing Center. Photo via DLA.
