DETROIT – Automakers including Ford Motor and Rivian Automotive are leaning toward a new type of manufacturing line: 3D printing. Manufacturers say it is helping them reduce costs and increase speed. The technology has been around for decades, but is becoming increasingly commoditized in the automotive industry, with 3D printers used to create everything from vehicle parts and accessories to tools for assembly plants and test units for research and development labs. “At this point, we have no choice but to scale it up and start using it across all factions of Rivian,” Jared Beck, Rivian’s head of additive manufacturing, told CNBC during a tour of the automaker’s extensive 3D printing operations in suburban Detroit. “We are going to democratize 3D printing for the entire company.” The benefits of 3D printing Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing can create three-dimensional objects from digital designs by dispensing material layer by layer, much like a traditional printer does with ink on paper. Instead of ink, machines use a wide variety of materials such as plastics, composites, ceramics, and even metals. The progression of the new steering wheel for Rivian’s new R2 SUV from 3D printing to finished design for production at its Plymouth, Michigan facility. Michael Wayland / CNBC Printers can range from hundreds of dollars for hobby-type devices to hundreds of thousands of dollars for specialized equipment, depending on the size of the product being produced and the material it needs. They can produce single parts or hundreds of smaller parts in a batch using powders and resins. Rivian said it has spent more than $5 million on 3D printing machines, and the cost of materials for operations has risen to about $1.7 million a year. Beck said that despite the costs, the machines typically pay for themselves within a year. He said the technology helps reduce suppliers’ tooling costs, streamline logistics expenses and reduce part production times from weeks to days, if not hours. [for savings]but it’s all about speed for Rivian,” Beck said. The all-electric vehicle company’s latest 3D printing expansion includes adding new machines that can build flexible silicone parts, as well as installing a machine bay at its plant in Normal, Illinois, for employees to print parts on demand. A 3D-printed version of Rivian’s cartoon Yeti mascot, named Gary, sits inside an additive manufacturing area at Rivian’s facility in Plymouth, Michigan. Michael Wayland/CNBC”3D” Prints should be available to all engineers so they can make a part and have it in their hands as quickly as possible,” Beck said. Rivian has also used the technology for models of electric motors for fluid testing, creating screw guides for tooling and stamping press inserts and some production parts, including finishing parts to fill gaps in some early builds. many years, even in its enormous assembly plants. Instead of having a bay of 3D printing machines like at Rivian, Ford has additive manufacturing departments in many of its plants to produce and distribute the necessary parts. That includes a new vending machine for 3D-printed parts for F-150 pickup production near its headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Gregory Foresi, a mechanical engineer at Ford, holds a device he 3D printed to reinstall vehicle badges on the automaker’s doors. F-150 pickup trucks inside the River Rouge factory in Dearborn, Michigan Michael Wayland/CNBC “By installing the vending machine, all team leaders have access,” said Gregory Foresi, a Ford mechanical engineer who ran Ford’s 3D printing lab at the plant from 2024 until last month. So that’s been pretty big.” Foresi has used about two dozen machines to print thousands of tools, some of which have been designed by employees, such as torque bit sockets, hood pullers and hand tools for smoothing adhesive. Employees can use an app to request that specific car parts or tools be printed. Ford’s 3D printing equipment helps develop them or determine what to produce next, since the machining time to build different parts can vary from hours to days, if not weeks. Foresi said creating the tooling with 3D printing has allowed the automaker to uniquely design them when needed, get them faster and, in many cases, receive them at a lower cost. Ford has also used 3D printed parts to help keep production running. For example, Foresi said a large machining wheel was needed to maintain assembly line production and the company was able to 3D print the part until a supplier was available. available. Ford’s River Rouge factory in Dearborn, Michigan. Michael Wayland / CNBC “They didn’t work as well, and it’s not really a replacement for the ones we were buying, but they kept the plant running,” Foresi said. Ford said it hopes to have 3D labs deployed at more than 23 plants by the end of this year. Its current 3D printing program has more than 200 machines, and there are additional printers outside the official program. used 3D-printed parts for some of its low-volume products, in addition to R&D and in-house plants, including recent expansion of the use of Stratasys industrial printers that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on use case, training and certification. The Detroit automaker uses 135 3D-printed components for its custom Cadillac Celestiq, as well as other components for its high-performance Cadillac Blackwing sedans, including a unique medallion on the Fadi manual shifter. Abro, senior global director of automotive and mobility at 3D printing company Stratasys, said GM has been a great example of how companies can “standardize and then scale” 3D printing. “The material properties improved so significantly that the use cases improved,” he said, noting that the company works with virtually all major automakers. “From a product perspective, we have to make the technology faster and more accessible, in an economic sense between part builds.” one of the automaker’s Detroit facilities Courtesy of GM.
