Our connected vehicles are now part of our connected lives. That means automakers must deliver not only connectivity for hands-free calling, navigation, and music, but more embedded technologies and sensors for everything from heated seats to automated safety features.
In addition to incorporating the latest innovative technology features with each new model, automakers must also continue to evolve vehicle designs to be lighter, more fuel efficient, while offering the mix of models and in-vehicle options that consumers can customize to their liking.
Meeting these demands would’ve been unimaginable 20 years ago. Automakers and their suppliers can use advances in digital manufacturing, like 3D printing and other digitally-enabled, on-demand production services, to improve their designs while creating smarter, lighter, and more customizable vehicles.
Automakers Bullish On 3D
3D printing is rewriting the book on how automakers can not only design but also produce vehicle parts. The market for 3D printing within the automotive sector will continue to grow in the coming years. In fact, projected spending in the 3D printing automotive market will total more than $2.3 billion by 2021, as compared with an anticipated $600 million this year.
With this potential and market capacity, practical use of the technology isn’t a far-off concept; automotive 3D printing has already arrived. Today, automakers use stereolithography (SL) 3D-printing processes to produce highly accurate prototypes, ideal for getting the initial touch and feel characteristics of lightweight concept parts. They use selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D-printing processes to produce prototype parts for functional testing. With direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) processes, engineers can continue reducing weight, while achieving well-designed complex parts that are often too difficult to machine.
A growing number of automakers are also using 3D printing for end-use production. BMW, for example, has used additive manufacturing to produce over 10,000 parts for its Rolls-Royce Phantom. The company sees additive technologies as one of its “main production methods” in the future, and continues to explore advances in 3D printing to help shorten production times and improve flexibility.
Mercedes-Benz is also using SLS 3D printing to produce high-quality, on-demand spare parts for its trucks. This allows the company to supply spare parts even decades after a model’s production ends, while reducing the stocking and storage of spares that may never be used.
Driving Better Designs
The greatest benefit 3D printing brings to automotive is the ability to create more complex designs, while using fewer lighter parts. The aerospace industry already doing this successfully.
GE, for example, used additive manufacturing to reduce the number of parts in its new turboprop aircraft engine from 855 down to just 12. This decreased the engine’s weight by 5 percent, which in turn will reduce fuel usage 20 percent, and produce 10 percent more power than the competition. Fewer parts will also reduce wear and tear, along with supply chain demands.
Automakers can realize similar benefits in their designs take something like an elbow pipe. Instead of using two straight pipes, an elbow pipe, and flanges to hold them together, those components could be consolidated into a single contoured pipe. This kind of parts reduction creates opportunities to mitigate weight, size, and improve fuel economy, since parts can be printed in complex geometries and organic designs to optimize part performance. It also creates a smaller bill of materials and fewer spare parts to manage long term, while enhancing overall vehicle performance with smoother air and fuel flow.
One of the most exciting aspects of 3D printing is opening the door for designers to unleash their creativity on part designs by incorporating thin walls, web-like lattices, and other elaborate features. Advances in direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), for instance, now enable automakers to create more complex assemblies and intricate parts, such as engine components, that have the properties of metal and would otherwise be too costly or difficult—or even impossible—to machine.
As automakers integrate 3D printing more into their operations, understanding how to get the most out of the process will be crucial. By working with a supplier that understands part orientation as part of the 3D-printing process, for example, companies can produce higher-quality parts that require less secondary finishing.
Manufacturing Flexibility
Greater use of embedded technologies, combined with more vehicle models and feature options, has introduced more complexity into the vehicle design and production processes. In addition to the use of 3D printing, some automotive companies are using other advances in digital manufacturing to better manage this complexity.
In some digital manufacturing models, automotive companies can now upload their 3D CAD files to their manufacturing partner’s website and receive a price estimate within hours. They can then use interactive quoting features to make adjustments, such as to their part’s surface finish or material, and see the corresponding pricing adjustments in real time.
Even more valuable are design for manufacturability (DFM) analysis tools available with other manufacturing processes, including injection molding and CNC machining services. Automakers can use these tools to review DFM parameters of a part, such as its wall thickness, material flow, and design complexity. The DFM tool also can identify key design issues—such as with a part’s draft, thinness or thickness, radius, and undercut—and recommend design changes.
These tools can help automakers and their suppliers understand the feasibility and cost of new parts, and help them manage a growing number of parts for more vehicle models. This ultimately can shave days or even weeks off the development process.
Furthermore, in today’s competitive product development climate, it is increasingly important to streamline and expedite the process of getting a product to market—without sacrificing quality. Many automakers are turning to service bureaus to achieve this, as these resources have a firm foothold on process controls, production quality, manufacturing processes, and post-processing options.
A Digital Roadmap
Automotive designs will continue to trend toward more connectivity and embedded electronics to meet consumer expectations, greater customization to deliver more personalized vehicles, and adoption of new materials to reduce weight. And, a seemingly inevitable future of autonomous vehicles could fundamentally alter the course of vehicle designs. Continued advances in digital manufacturing from the latest 3D printing processes to on-demand production services, will help automakers simplify designs, incorporate new manufacturing processes, and reduce components’ weight and development time while cutting costs to keep up with these demands.
