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Inside Ford's 3D Printing Center Where More Than 20K Parts Are Made Each Year

Posted by samzenpus on from the print-and-drive dept.

Lucas123 (935744) writes 'Ford has been using 3D printing for rapid prototyping since the mid-1980s, but in recent years it has ramped up its efforts adding new machines and materials. A tour of the facility revealed four different methods of 3D printing being used to prototype parts. For example, Ford uses Nylon 11 and laser sintering to make parts that can be retrofitted to working vehicles and tested over thousands of miles. The center also uses binder jet printing to form molds for metal prototypes by laying down layers of sand that are then epoxied together. Just one of its five 3D prototyping centers churns out more than 20,000 parts a year. Today, Ford could not meet new vehicle deadlines without 3D printing.'

10 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. How can I not be a Cynic... by Anna+Merikin · · Score: 2

    When the information so clearlyy calls for it.

    At its Dearborn Heights, Mich. facility, 14 different industrial 3D printers turn out 20,000 parts a year.

    H'mm ... that's approx 6 parts per machine per working day.

    Not much of a story here, just PR.

    1. Re:How can I not be a Cynic... by Hamsterdan · · Score: 2

      I'm wondering how many of those parts could be made on a standard CNC, and if they only use the printers for parts that would be too hard to machine with conventional processes.

      --
      I've got better things to do tonight than die.
    2. Re:How can I not be a Cynic... by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Given design, setup/prep, printing/molding, and trim work, that's still quite impressive. Mass producing one thing over and over is easy. Changing your tooling to deal with a new part is what's hard. When I worked in factories, we'd get laid off for a week when it was time to switch products. The engineers needed time to swap everything out. It was equivalent to rearranging a huge house where all the furniture weight over 30tons. I'd imagine these places are setup for lots of rapid changes so it wouldn't be so bad, but it's still probably requires a lot of work. Also, I doubt the workers are your regular linemen. They'd almost have to all be engineers.

    3. Re:How can I not be a Cynic... by roc97007 · · Score: 2

      When the information so clearlyy calls for it.

      At its Dearborn Heights, Mich. facility, 14 different industrial 3D printers turn out 20,000 parts a year.

      H'mm ... that's approx 6 parts per machine per working day.

      Not much of a story here, just PR.

      Enh, perhaps. The story for me was this:

      > Ford has been using 3D printing for rapid prototyping since the mid-1980s

      Think of how recently 3D printing has entered common consciousness. Back in the eighties, I managed projects that involved (amongst many other things) creating custom parts via lost wax casting. And I had never heard of 3D printing at the time except as a joke in rec.humor. (The Xerox 3d printer is a great achievement, but the apple tastes of toner. That time the service guy was fixing it when someone accidentally turned it on -- the arm it spat out wrecked the copy room and had to be beaten into submission by security guards.)

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    4. Re:How can I not be a Cynic... by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

      I doubt they would only run 5 days a week.
      4 parts per machine per day

      Not really relevant though. If designing parts takes longer than printing them it doesn't matter how fast the printers are.

      Some just take a long time to print though

      A single binder jet print run can take as little as a week to as much as a month, depending on the job size and deadline

    5. Re:How can I not be a Cynic... by samkass · · Score: 2

      Given design, setup/prep, printing/molding, and trim work, that's still quite impressive. Mass producing one thing over and over is easy. Changing your tooling to deal with a new part is what's hard. When I worked in factories, we'd get laid off for a week when it was time to switch products. The engineers needed time to swap everything out. It was equivalent to rearranging a huge house where all the furniture weight over 30tons. I'd imagine these places are setup for lots of rapid changes so it wouldn't be so bad, but it's still probably requires a lot of work. Also, I doubt the workers are your regular linemen. They'd almost have to all be engineers.

      When I wrote a bunch of software for InvisAlign over 10 years ago, we were ramping up to a capacity of 20,000 unique plastic parts per day while printing over half of that every day. I can only imagine what they're doing today. The actual printing was mostly stereolithography making molds, pressure forming, then CNC cutting them off, but there was also scanning, modeling, approvals, labeling, mesh cleanup, supports, etc., which all had to happen in 3d. The automation required to get all that humming along was substantial (lots of patents, and not just "on the internet" ones...)

      --
      E pluribus unum
    6. Re:How can I not be a Cynic... by 91degrees · · Score: 2

      I'd presume demand varies unpredictably though. Once you do haver a set of designs, you don't really want to wait for more than a day or so for a part if you don't have to, but there are going to be times when no team is in the prototyping stage.

  2. Re:Obligatory FORD Acronym Jokes by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    Found On Road Dead

    Driver Returned On Foot.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  3. It's Not About Plastic Guns by sycodon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All these things 3D printing can do now. Imagine in 5-10 years what they will be able to create.

    And people are having stupid arguments about plastic guns. Talk about a limited vision.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:It's Not About Plastic Guns by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      Sounds like one of those idiot signs at a OWS protest.

      I'm not responsible for your failures, whether of reading comprehension, extrapolation, or imagination.

      Is there something in there that is actually relevant to anything in his post or the story?

      Like most technological developments of any note, 3d printing will eliminate entire industries. I'd say it's pretty relevant. In any case, if you don't like a thread, don't reply to it. You're only making the threads you don't like grow.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"