Assembly line in GM factory, Detroit.
As a celebration of RAPID + TCT planting its feet in Motor City this year, the event's final day will be designated as 'Automotive Day'.
In addition to a keynote from BMW, this special focus will include conference tracks and panels dedicated to automotive applications for additive manufacturing. On the show floor, General Motors will showcase its The GM Solution Center featuring hands-on experiences with example automotive parts, a 3D printed derby car challenge, a post-processing and vehicle assembly lab, the Continuous Build Demonstrator and more.
Ahead of this special event, TCT spoke to Brennon White, Application Engineer at General Motors to find out more.
DOC: How are you currently using additive in your day-to-day work at GM?
BW: I’m an applications engineer focused on interiors and electrical product groups. Since additive manufacturing doesn’t have high-volume throughput, we are working on enhancing the existing prototyping skillsets with functional applications.
For instance, my team is researching how to decrease our tooling builds—such as eliminating low-volume injection mould tools—to reduce both our capital expenditure budget on early prototypes, as well as our lead time to be able to evaluate product.
DOC: How is additive helping to reduce lead times?
BW: As I’m sure many in the business know, lead time can be a pretty significant hurdle in the development process. Take injection mould tooling, for example. To get a prototype tool through traditional methods, we could be looking at a 6-12 week wait. For a more complicated tool or production tool, it could take even longer. If you’re talking metal tools, that could take as long as 52 weeks!
Needless to say, we’re actively investigating additive as a way to reduce this lead time for tooling. So far with 3D printing processes, I’ve seen lead times drop by 25%, and as much as 90%! It can be very significant, to the point where we can now do multiple iterations of design work in the same timeframe it would have taken us to get the initial tool through traditional methods.
DOC: How significant are the cost savings with additive manufacturing methods?
BW: I’ll share one specific example as to how additive provides an immediate economic advantage. We had a foreign company responsible for supplying an HVAC aspirator part, whose tool for making it essentially vaporised. We were faced with a choice—pay $40,000 for a new injection mould tool, or 3D print the parts for less than $2,000.
The decision was obvious. And, since the technology has advanced since that story took place, I could probably print the parts today for well under $1,000. Not only were the cost savings there, but if I decided to purchase the injection mould tool for $40K, I’d have to wait for weeks on end just to get my first parts, whereas I could get printed parts on deck in less than a week, provided I’m fully geared up to do it.
DOC: How do you see the application of additive manufacturing advancing in the automotive industry?
BW: Manufacturers are already spitting out 3D printing machines as fast as possible, but the real lynchpin lies in their creation of functional materials which, for automotive, need to have performance characteristics that meet the OEM’s strict application needs. So, I envision a much deeper collaboration with the automotive materials supply base and print manufacturers.
I also see additive continuing to accelerate in the next 10-20 years for faster metal production and faster polymer production—to the stage where you can get blended materials that allow for even more functional parts. Having machines that can assemble parts like inserts while they’re printing—or even introducing a rapid, robotic and precise process of installing them afterwards—would be a huge win for the automotive industry.
RAPID + TCT takes place on 20-23 May at the Cobo Center in Detroit. Register here to attend and follow @TheTCTMagazine or head to our dedicated RAPID + TCT news section for more updates.
