Volvo Construction Equipment has announced that it is investing more of the business in 3D printing with spare parts supplied by the company to customers in the industrial vehicle market to now be produced using the additive manufacturing process.
In addition to boosting productivity by more quickly and efficiently producing and delivering the parts to customers, the method will also increasingly be used by Volvo in its research and development stage of its prototype technologies.
The creation of new parts via the 3D printing process can take as little as one week. Fast delivery of required components maximizes the uptime of customers’ equipment; and the ability to supply new parts to replace those that have gone out of normal production may also extend the lifetime of the machine as a whole. Parts made of metals through additive manufacturing may also be offered in future.
“We are supporting customers through the lifecycle of their equipment,” said Jasenko Lagumdzija, manager of business support at Volvo CE. “It’s especially good for older machines where the parts that have worn out are no longer made efficiently in traditional production methods. Producing new parts by 3D printing cuts down on time and costs, so it’s an efficient way of helping customers.”
Additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing, is the process of repeatedly layering a molten material or liquid in a specific pattern that is set by the printer’s software, until it solidifies into the required three-dimensional shape.
March 29, 2018
