Getting a new vehicle from the design phase to mass production typically takes years. But in an increasingly fast-paced and competitive global market, automakers are doing everything they can to get new models onto the road quicker–including leaning into nontraditional manufacturing methods. Take, for example, the all-electric Explorer SUV Ford currently produces for the European market at its Cologne, Germany, plant. The automaker used 3D printing to shave time and costs off of the traditional development process. Ford and 3D-printing company Formlabs earlier this month provided a behind-the-scenes look at how, exactly, they leveraged additive manufacturing to bring the electric Explorer to market faster. "Every second counts in the development process, and reducing the time to prototype lowered the overall costs of finalizing the design," Michael Baker, global head of brand and communications at Formlabs, told Tech Brew via email. Using Formlabs's 3D-printing equipment, Ford employees at the automaker's development center in Cologne printed injection molds for rubber components for the vehicle's door handles. This helped reduce a potentially months-long process to three weeks, according to Baker. Hurry up: Speed is a key consideration for legacy automakers as they go head-to-head with highly competitive Chinese EV makers that hold a dominant force in the global EV market. Keep reading here.—JG |
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