Ford: Reinventing Manufacturing Using 3D Printing

Since its establishment in 1914, Ford has been a trailblazer in revolutionizing automotive manufacturing. From pioneering the mechanized assembly line—a cornerstone of modern production known as Fordism, which has shaped the industry for 116 years—to embracing cutting-edge advancements like additive manufacturing, the company’s focus remains steadfast. Ford’s mission is clear: to accelerate vehicle production by enhancing efficiency, improving ergonomics, and maintaining exceptional quality standards across the board.

The Ford plant in Cologne, Germany, creates prototypes of each Ford vehicle, which are then sent into series production. The Cologne branch is equipped with a complete line of small-scale production, where they are ddeveloped machines of a few years before going into production. Lars Bognar, a research engineer from the Ford Research and Advanced Engineering team in Aachen, is the one who designed a 3D-optimized workflow for producing jigs, tools and fixtures needed in Ford’s manufacturing process.

Adoption of additive manufacturing

In the typical manufacturing flow, Ford employees use many custom tools. They are often designed for a specific task and model. Outsourcing manufacturing of these tools is time-consuming and very expensive. To achieve faster tooling, the Ford team decided to adopt 3D printing as a possible cost optimization solution.

A team dedicated to additive manufacturing has been createdA and they started using SLS technology. They got good results, but the prints needed a bit of post-processing. That’s why Ford started using Ultimaker’s FFF technology: an even faster, more convenient and less hassle-free solution. This way, not only engineers, but also the local workforce, regardless of where Ford factories were located, could use a 3D printer to create the tools they needed.

Prototyping tools, jigs and fixtures

Many factories are implementing 3D printing to optimize their manufacturing process In breast.

However, by having a dedicated 3D workshop at the pilot plant, Ford is able to produce all the necessary tools before a new car enters mass production. This gives Ford engineers more time to iterate on the design of all the custom tools. Ford can create ones that not only speed up vehicle production times, but often offer ergonomic benefits for the workforce. This is why it is important to be able to identify and generate the right project for these specific cases.

The open filament system allows the use of industrial materials, which help make tools and fixtures even more durable for high-volume production.

Local production

Therefore, using Ultimaker 3D printers, local factories can even 3D print the tools they need. Ford has installed Ultimaker 3D printers in its factories across Europe: Spain, Italy and Romania. Provides design team from Germanydigital projects and tools can be used the next day thanks to 3D printing.

But Ford goes further. Using Paramate Trinckle’s software solution, workers at these factories can generate masks without 3D design experience. For example, in the production process, the local team in Cologne creates more intAand magnetic tool holders and tool holders. The cargo engineerA design the car, add the handles, leave space where you need to add a part to the car and the software generatesA the mask. Therefore, through the reverse path method, the prototype of the part and tool is obtained, and its design is sent directly to Ultimaker Cura and printed locally with Ultimaker S5 machines on site.

Today only expert engineers are able to design complex bodies. In the future, even unskilled workers will be able to use this software to create their own tools.

Advantages of 3D printing

So far, the pilot program to introduce additive manufacturing to the production line has brought great benefits to Ford. Depending on the custom tooling, you save a significant amount of money compared to traditional manufacturing or outsourcing.

For example, the Ford Focus alone is produced using over 50 custom tools, jigs and fixtures.

Ford also uses additive manufacturing to get replacement parts for production cars off the assembly line. By printing these parts, the uptime of the machines increases significantly and the line does not have to be stopped for long periods of time.

But 3D printing doesn’t just bring financial benefits. Many of the 3D printed tools have special ergonomic benefits for Ford workers. After prolonged use, traditional metal instruments are extremely heavy and can compromise the health of the wearer. Ultimaker’s range of materials are often strong enough to replace metal tools, making life much easier for assembly personnel.

Future plans

Ford is rapidly expanding its 3D printing capabilities. As they streamline their workflow to create tools, jigs, and fixtures, they discover that there are many more applications for this technology than they initially thought.

«We want to take the next step, we also want to 3D print replacement parts. We want to design specifically for additive manufacturing and be able to print production parts for vehicles from final production.»

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