Carbon3D Case Studies Ford Motor Company on the Road to 3D Manufacturing

	Ford Motor Company on the Road to 3D Manufacturing Carbon3D

Ford Motor Company on the Road to 3D Manufacturing

Carbon3D

Applicable Industries	Automotive
Applicable Functions	Discrete Manufacturing
Use Cases	Additive Manufacturing
Challenge	To date, key challenges have stood in the way of 3D printing becoming a manufacturing tool for the automaker. The first issue is a fundamental one — conventional 3D printing technologies make parts layer-by-layer, slowly crafting one layer at a time, creating parts that aren’t nearly as robust as those stamped or injection molded. While the slow speed of this process is a major drawback, the bigger problem is that the parts produced are not isotropic and not durable enough to be used in production vehicles. In addition, most parts used in vehicles today must withstand temperature extremes from the hottest desert to the coldest Arctic environments and still maintain their integrity. With only a handful of stock materials available for 3D printers, meeting the automaker’s unique demands has not been possible. Read More
About Customer	The Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Read More
Customer Name	The Ford Motor Company Read More
Solution	Ford has already used the CLIP-based device to grow elastomer grommets for the Focus Electric and test them against those made by traditional 3D printing methods. The soft but sturdy grommets are designed to protect wiring on the inside of the door from being damaged when the door opens and closes. The Ford team used CLIP to produce the grommets in less than a third of the time and with material properties much closer to the final properties desired for the part. In a similar project, several alternative designs were evaluated for a damping bumper part on the Ford Transit Connect. The game-changing manufacturing time of the CLIP process allowed engineers to make design iterations much more quickly than with traditional methods. Read More Log in to view content
Data Collected	Design Library, Design Process Flow, Parts and material pricing, Production Efficiency, Temperature Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing

Use Cases

Additive Manufacturing

Challenge

To date, key challenges have stood in the way of 3D printing becoming a manufacturing tool for the automaker. The first issue is a fundamental one — conventional 3D printing technologies make parts layer-by-layer, slowly crafting one layer at a time, creating parts that aren’t nearly as robust as those stamped or injection molded. While the slow speed of this process is a major drawback, the bigger problem is that the parts produced are not isotropic and not durable enough to be used in production vehicles. In addition, most parts used in vehicles today must withstand temperature extremes from the hottest desert to the coldest Arctic environments and still maintain their integrity. With only a handful of stock materials available for 3D printers, meeting the automaker’s unique demands has not been possible.

About Customer

The Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.

Customer Name

The Ford Motor Company

Solution

Ford has already used the CLIP-based device to grow elastomer grommets for the Focus Electric and test them against those made by traditional 3D printing methods. The soft but sturdy grommets are designed to protect wiring on the inside of the door from being damaged when the door opens and closes. The Ford team used CLIP to produce the grommets in less than a third of the time and with material properties much closer to the final properties desired for the part. In a similar project, several alternative designs were evaluated for a damping bumper part on the Ford Transit Connect. The game-changing manufacturing time of the CLIP process allowed engineers to make design iterations much more quickly than with traditional methods.

Data Collected

Design Library, Design Process Flow, Parts and material pricing, Production Efficiency, Temperature

Impact #1	[Efficiency Improvement - Time To Market] The team was able to rapidly design, prototype and manufacture an oil connector using rigid polyurethane and elastomer materials to access the oil fill tube without needing major redesigns to several components of the vehicle.
Impact #2	[Efficiency Improvement - R&D] Due to Carbon’s commitment to polymer chemistry and the unique advantages CLIP technology has to support an incredibly broad range of materials, Ford has been able to significantly expand their own materials research efforts.

Impact #1

[Efficiency Improvement - Time To Market]
The team was able to rapidly design, prototype and manufacture an oil connector using rigid polyurethane and elastomer materials to access the oil fill tube without needing major redesigns to several components of the vehicle.

Impact #2

[Efficiency Improvement - R&D]
Due to Carbon’s commitment to polymer chemistry and the unique advantages CLIP technology has to support an incredibly broad range of materials, Ford has been able to significantly expand their own materials research efforts.

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Overview

Ford Motor Company on the Road to 3D Manufacturing

Operational Impact