The recent history of American automakers is dotted with stories of terrible crisis and amazing turnarounds, the lasted being that of the Ford Motor Co. Only this time around Ford’s surprising turnaround since the 2008 recession might have been sprung by the auto manufacturer’s rapid adoption of 3D printing technologies.
We reported Ford’s adoption of 3D printing for prototyping back in early 2013. Now Computerworld reports that Ford is churning out some 20,000 3D printed parts a year in just one of its five 3D prototyping centres, which, if matched across the other four centres and math is not an opinion, makes 100,000 3D printed parts a year.
“Companies like 3D Systems and Stratasys are spending huge amounts of money on development. So not only are machines and materials getting better, but the process is getting faster and it’s helping drive the overall cost down,” Harold Sears, a technical specialist in additive manufacturing technology for Ford, revealed (video below)
It is not just a matter of saving money or making better parts as much as it is about saving time, the most valuable (and increasingly so) of all commodities, by cutting prototyping times from over 16 weeks to just a few days. Without 3D printing Ford would no longer be able to meet its new model vehicle build deadlines.
We didn’t fully understand the potential of this technology. Now we know that we could use additive manufacturing to make any part of the vehicle you can think of”, said Roy Raymer, Project Coordinator, Rapid Manufacturing at Ford Motors.
Three of the five Ford 3D prototyping centers are in the US while the other two are in Europe (where the group has been performing better but is still losing money). The one visit by Computerworld is in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and has 14 different industrial 3D printers based on SLA, SLS and FDM technologies.
Some of the parts are created in nylon and can be used to replace parts on working vehicles, which are then driven for thousands of miles to test them for production. Most automotive companies have not yet adopted direct metal additive manufacturing technologies and Ford is no exception. But for metal metal prototypes, 3D printing is involved, the company uses binder jet printing machines that churn out bins filled with 100 or more sand moulds into which to pour the molten metal.
By being the first to introduce the assembly line Ford Motors launched and led the second industrial revolution. Now it looks like it will be driving the third as well.
