Posted on

Replacement Parts for Assault Amphibious Vehicle 3D Printed with HP’s Metal Jet

In 2018, HP announced that it was entering the metal side of the additive marketing industry with the introduction of its Metal Jet technology. While Metal Jet has been used for applications in the automotive industry, the United States Marine Corps is now adopting it to make parts for a very different kind of vehicle: the 26-ton, bulletproof AAV, or Assault Amphibious Vehicle. Nicknamed the AmTrac, AAVs have been carrying over 20 humans and a storehouse of supplies safely back to shore since 1972, chugging through the water at eight mph. There are over 1,000 vehicles in the fleet, all of which will be phased out of operation in the next two decades.

An AAV (Assault Amphibious Vehicle)

Unfortunately, because the AAVs are set to retire, private manufacturers that have long made replacement parts for the vehicles are less enticed to do so now. This is causing a negative effect on the USMC supply chain: AAVs are sitting around unused, and Marines may even go to battle without them.

Kristin Holzworth, chief scientist for the Marine Corps Systems Command’s Advanced Manufacturing Operations Cell, stated, “This is a critical part of our future, ensuring readiness of those in uniform.”

HP Metal Jet

That’s why the AAV program is turning to HP’s Metal Jet technology to 3D print replacement parts by the hundreds, like bolts and brackets, couplings and cranks, at California manufacturing company Parmatech.

“We go into some pretty remote areas and the supply chain is just not available to us yet. So, the ability to make our own parts at the point of need is critically important,” said Scott Adams, a civilian member of the USMC.

Most of these parts were previously made with subtractive manufacturing, but, by using metal 3D printing, they can be mass produced much more quickly. Metal Jet printers can place up to 630 million nanogram-sized drops of liquid binder per second onto the powder bed, and a polymer binds the metal particles together during the process to make high-strength parts.

“Being able to clasp (what used to require) 50 different, subtractive-manufacturing lines into a couple of prints, you almost can’t even put words to that. The efficiencies that are likely to come from that are absolutely astronomical,” said USMC Col. Patrick M. Col. Tucker, commanding officer of Combat Logistics Regiment 15 at Camp Pendleton, California, where marines train in AAVs.

Examples of replacement parts 3D printed for AAVs.

A Marine Corps analysis conducted in April found that many AAVs have to wait, on average, 140 days for replacement parts, some of which have been back-ordered for over a year.

“It takes those Assault Amphibious Vehicles offline. As of (April 1), here at Camp Pendleton, we had 41 of our 214 vehicles in maintenance. It’s a very important platform to our combat readiness,” explained Col. Tucker, who served in the Iraq War and helps manage the Metal Jet program.

Additionally, Metal Jet 3D printing allows the soldiers to fabricate assemblies of multiple pieces as a single part, rather than welding them together.

Sgt. Jonathan Anderson, part of the 1st Supply Battalion at Camp Pendleton, said, “It gets rid of welds period, which is absolutely amazing. A weld is always a weak point. We are actually increasing the life cycle of these parts and potentially increasing the life cycle of the vehicle.”

At the moment, fewer AAVs can be used for training at Camp Pendleton, and even out in the field at distant bases, due to current part shortages.

Col. Tucker noted, “In extreme times where we have a kinetic operation, you could foresee that we may have to send (Marine) units without that.”

Soon, the 3D-printed AAV parts in the Metal Jet program will enter the first testing phase to make sure that they function properly in test vehicles and have accurate size and weight. Holzworth says that it’s “promising work” and that all parts tested so far have passed. In the second part of testing, the parts will be installed into the test AAV, which will then be driven in order to test the reliability.

One of the 1,024 AAVs the US Marine Corps hopes to outfit with 3D-printed replacement parts

Once the testing is complete, the retiring AAV fleet will be serviced much more quickly.

“It’s all about equipment readiness, and about our ability to deploy into an area or to sustain ourselves while we are there,” said Adams, who is on the team working to equip AAVs with 3D printed parts.

Col. Tucker states that the AAV is a “good Guinea pig tester,” but notes that the team is also looking into other USMC platforms that may benefit from the use of Metal Jet technology. Additionally, the program could have further reaching ramifications for the entire US military.

Because the Marine Corps is so small, it has what Col. Tucker calls a “shallow” supply chain, which means that the parts it needs aren’t as big as what the US Army uses. And just like with the AAV replacement parts, industrial manufacturers aren’t as inclined to use their machines to make the parts. Also, because the USMC works to defend our country’s interests all around the world, this small supply chain is often strained as well.

“That’s why something like rapid metal is so interesting. This capability would allow us to move around that problem,” Col. Tucker said.

Discuss this story and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.

(Source/Images: HP)

The post Replacement Parts for Assault Amphibious Vehicle 3D Printed with HP’s Metal Jet appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Posted on

Siemens Mobility Extends Spare Parts 3D Printing Program to Russia’s High-Speed Rail

The railway industry is one of the more exciting fields to watch the adoption of additive manufacturing, as various companies begin deploying the technology for use in the production of on-demand spare parts. One of the leaders in this trend has been Siemens Mobility Services, which already worked with Stratasys to print maintenance parts for the German and UK rail industries. Now, the German multinational is expanding its rail maintenance operations to Russia.

Siemens has bought two Stratasys Fortus 450mc systems to produce spare parts for its Russian business, just as Siemens Mobility has been awarded a contract to build 13 high-speed Velaro trains for RZD, a Russian train company. Siemens will not only construct the vehicles but maintain and service them over the next 30 years. The contract is third Velaro order from RZD, which already has a fleet of 16 trains in its high speed rail (HSR) line, Sapsan, which runs from Saint Petersburg to Moscow.

Parts of a railway tool 3D printed using the Fortus 450mc. Image courtesy of Stratasys.

Siemens has already installed the two new Fortus systems in its Siemens Mobility Russia locations in St. Petersburg and Moscow. There, the 3D printers will be used to execute the German multinational’s Easy Sparovation Part network in Russia, in which 3D print parts from digital inventory allow for in-house production of spare parts. With the new train contract, this means that Siemens will be servicing 16 existing trains and an additional 13 over the next 30 years using AM technology.

According to the conglomerate, the use of 3D printing has allowed Siemens Mobility Russia to exhibit a fleet availability record of over 99 percent.

“These availability figures would be physically impossible to achieve through external part sourcing and traditional manufacturing techniques alone, but Stratasys’ FDM 3D printers gives us the capability to cost-effectively produce the parts in-house, partially eliminating the need for warehousing or tools for a selected range of items,” said Alexey Fedoseev, Head of Customer Services, Siemens Mobility Russia. “We have already seen the success of the Siemens Mobility ‘Easy Sparovation Part’ business in Germany, where this technology has provided us time-per-part savings of up to 95% compared to traditional manufacturing methods.”

As long as the technology used to make the parts is up to the task, digital inventory has numerous benefits over physical storage. It reduces the space needed to maintain a physical supply, while also making it possible to deliver replacement parts on-demand, on-site, and quickly, regardless of the age of the equipment being maintained. In the case of a train car 30 years from now, the physical parts may not even exist any longer; however, the use of a digital inventory renders the concept of obsolete parts obsolete.

Grab handles 3D printed with Stratasys technology and installed on a Chiltern Railways train. Image courtesy of Stratasys.

“The manufacture and delivery of an additional 13 new Velaro trains will see us work on multiple vehicles over a long period of time, and within very strict time constraints. As a result, 3D printing makes for a perfect add-on to aid our production and provides us with the flexibility to replace and create parts ourselves, anytime they are needed,” Fedoseev said.

The Fortus 450mc systems have the ability to 3D print using industrial-grade materials that can operate in the extreme temperatures that Russia is known for. Stratasys also offers materials that meet the regulatory certifications necessary for 3D printing interior cabin parts.

According to Grand View Research, the global railroads market was valued at $508.5 billion in 2016 and is expected to hit 829.3 billion by 2025. Growth is due in part to the continued industrialization of countries like India and China, as well as the global electrification of transportation infrastructure in the face of the climate crisis.

While the U.S. has been continually thwarted in its attempts to establish any real HSR lines, China’s HSR system has become the most extensive on the planet. With that in mind, there is little doubt that the U.S. will eventually establish some HSR as it reduces its dependency on fossil fuels. Whether or not it will be able to do so before our ecosystem is beyond repair is another story.

In order of most to least high-speed rail lines: China, Europe, Russia, the U.S. The U.S. has two small corridors from Boston to Washington D.C. and D.C. to Perryville, Maryland that are classified as HSR. Images courtesy of Wikipedia.

As HSR grows, so too will rail maintenance. Within that market, the railway maintenance machinery segment was valued at $4.24 million in 2018 and is expected to reach $7.44 million by 2025, based on research from 360marketupdates.com. It’s highly likely that this subsegment will feature AM.

This is not just because of Siemens’ use of the technology in the space, such as the aforementioned maintenance programs in Germany and the U.K., but Deutsche Bahn is a part of a larger Mobility goes Additive network dedicated to the use of AM in rail and other industrial sectors. Dutch Railway is also using 3D printing for the production of spare parts.

In other words, not only is the railway industry growing, but so is 3D printing spare parts for trains, which will naturally segue into producing end parts. This is indicated by a recent announcement by a 2018 Wabtec. GE Transportation merged with industrial train part manufacturer Wabtec in 2018, which then bought GE’s H2 metal binder jetting system with the plan to use it in the production of up to 250 components by 2025. At that point, Wabtec won’t be the only company 3D printing end parts for the railway industry. Manufacturers globally will be saying it’s “all aboard” for additive.

The post Siemens Mobility Extends Spare Parts 3D Printing Program to Russia’s High-Speed Rail appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Posted on

Interview with Tibor van Melsem Kocsis of DiManEx on 3D Printing in the Supply Chain

DiManEx is Dutch company that wants to bring 3D printing to the supply chain. They’re focussing on one of the most promising and challenging areas in 3D printing, how to identify parts that are suitable for 3D printing so they can be used for spares. DiManEx hopes to help firms identify good parts and then successfully print them as well. The regulatory, performance and print challenges there are considerable. Tibor van Melsem Kocsis is DiManEx’s CEO and he hopes that his firm will be the one to solve these challenges. If they can then they’ll have a very valuable capability on their hands. What’s more, companies would be very likely to deepen and broaden a long term relationship with a key partner that could guide them from a 3D printing standstill into spare part production. Furthermore, if they can prove that they can do this and maintain part performance and certification then people would not be very likely to shop around for less trusted firms. It will take a lot of convincing, knowledge and long sales cycles to get firms to the point where they’re printing spares though. We interviewed Tibor to find out more about the firm and what it hopes to achieve.

What is DiManEx?

DiManEx is an end-to-end platform that makes 3D printing easy for supply chain teams. We help you identify the right parts for Additive Manufacturing, digitize your inventory and print parts on demand through a network of industrial-quality facilities.

How is it different from Shapeways. Xometry, 3DHubs?

Supply Chain Optimization is the core element of our offering. For us 3D printing is an exciting technology, and a means to an end, not a goal in itself.We don’t just offer access to a manufacturing network, we provide a comprehensive service that helps companies find out what they can print, what they can’t print, and what’s beneficial to print from a supply chain stance. We start from the data, as well as immediate supply chain problems our customers need to address. We are also not a marketplace and assume end-to-end responsibility, from part identification to delivery to the end use location.

Where do you hope to be in five years?

We know that by then, even more than today, supply chains will operate in a highly networked environment, enabled by data and analytics, as well as end-to-end automation. Our big idea is to transform industrial supply chains in the same way e-commerce has disrupted retail. In the next five years, we want to become the preferred platform for companies that want to transition to digital inventory and optimize their global supply chain with digital manufacturing technologies like 3D printing.

What markets do you focus on?

We work mainly with companies in discrete manufacturing, in a wide range of industries, and companies with parts-intensive supply chains in Europe and the U.S. They are all focused on improving fundamental aspects of their business by solving specific supply chain issues. For instance, they want to improve the availability of service parts, ensure uptime to meet service levels, speed up lead times, optimize their inventory, and reduce their environmental footprint by preventing waste and unnecessary logistics.In addition, we see a growing demand for first series. Using AM for the first series helps companies speed up time to market, make changes on the fly and prevent unnecessary tooling costs.

Lightyear, for example, worked with us to secure more than 60 first series parts for the LightyearOne, a long-range solar car prototype. Being a prototype, some changes were required in several parts. The use of Additive Manufacturing made it possible to incorporate these changes quickly at a much lower cost than through traditional production. The first series was secured much faster without minimum order quantities. There was no investment in tooling or tied up working capital required.

Electrolux also works with us to secure like-for-like replacements of parts. The OEM is required by law to keep parts in stock for its appliances, but often incurs high set up costs, large minimum order quantities and eventual scrapping costs in order to meet this requirement. 3D printing offers a better way, by enabling them to supply the part as needed, on-demand. They work with us to 3D print, test and deploy several parts on the field.

What processes and materials?

We offer all available direct and indirect Additive Manufacturing techniques and post processing technologies. We provide access to 2000+ materials, both plastic and metal. We have global coverage with additive manufacturing production facilities and contracts with 60 partners we work with on an ongoing basis.

What is the Supply Chain Inspector?

Supply Chain Inspector is the analytics engine in the DiManEx platform. It uses semantic search, powered by machine learning algorithms, to help you identify the right parts for additive manufacturing. The solution draws on supply chain and technical data to assess parts’ printability and pinpoint those that are ideal candidates for digital inventory. We developed Supply Chain Inspector because we see that a lot of companies struggle with missing insights from available data. It’s not always straightforward to identify when 3D printing makes sense from a technical and supply chain optimization perspective. Through Supply Chain Inspector, you get this visibility and insights expressed in relevant metrics, like lead time reduction, inventory value reduction, future demand (uncertainty) and how to act upon this. The insights we provide make it easier for our customers to make the right decisions within our platform, with the ultimate goal to optimize their supply chain.

How does it work?

Our platform makes 3D printing easy for supply chain teams. A lot of complex processes happen behind our user-friendly interface. We facilitate a complete flow, from data to parts delivered. Looking at data, customers can get a bigger picture of what’s happening in their business and can more easily identify the right parts for AM. When a part is selected, they can trigger our end-to-end workflow, which includes scanning, digitization, production, and quality control.

Once a part design is approved, the part is added to the company’s digital inventory and users can place orders as often as they need to. Our platform matches the order with the additive manufacturing facility in our network that best matches the customer’s needs. Proximity to the end use location is also considered so we can minimize miles traveled. After the part is produced, it gets delivered through our network of partners.

A 1000 orders doesn’t seem like a lot?

This would be true and was the case when we first launched the platform. Right now this is not an accurate number anymore. We are now shipping orders on a daily basis, resulting in a new partnership with Logistyx which will help us optimize multi-carrier parcel deliveries. This partnership is very important for us. Logistyx simplifies the complexity of cross-border, multi-carrier parcel shipping. Their platform will help us quickly scale and ship high volumes of parts profitably, to customers worldwide. Their global carrier network counts more than 8,500 carrier services and helps us determine the ideal combination of carriers in real-time, based on factors such as price, capacity, service requirements, and performance.

How will you grow?

We will grow thanks to our customer-focused approach. Our goal is two-fold. Scaling up business with existing customers, and increasing the number of customers we serve across the globe. Further growth will be achieved by delivering the next generation of tools and services we have in our roadmap, and continuing to provide immediate value to our customers. This means having a positive impact on their total cost of ownership, service to their end customers and environmental footprint.

Is it realistic to add 3D printing to the supply chain?

Absolutely, 3D printing is an enabler, especially for discrete manufacturing companies and service organizations. It creates immediate and tangible value during the various stages of the manufacturing life cycle.

The key is to have a solid change management strategy and to work with partners that will make the transformation go smoothly. It helps to work with a managed service, so you don’t have to invest in machines yourself and can tap into a partner’s expertise without committing too many internal resources. 

How do I redesign old parts for 3D Printing?

In daily practice, customers provide us with an old drawing, a physical part, and sometimes even a damaged part to be reverse engineered. This is especially true for older components.

We’ve done this for a range of companies that produce household appliances, elevators and escalators, and heavy equipment, as well as service organizations.

The Dutch Railways (NS), for instance, worked with us to reverse engineer and 3D print a frame for its train radios. The frame was not available through NS’ original supplier anymore. Without it, trains couldn’t run. Other suppliers had a large minimum order quantity. In most cases, NS would have to order a minimum of 100 parts, when in fact they only needed 10. They also faced very long lead times. We were able to reverse engineer the part and reduce lead times significantly. This helped them guarantee that their coaches would keep running. The weight for the part itself was also optimized.

A radio frame part for the Dutch railways, the NS

And these 3D printed parts will they be as safe, perform as well?

Pretty much all the parts we supply are functional parts, which means they must meet the technical specifications. Several of them have been tested by our customers. In many cases, we provide a material certificate and/or a test report which is provided by a qualified third party, as part of our quality assurance program. All of this is available in our end-to-end workflow.

What advice do you have for companies who wish to manufacture with 3D Printing?

First and foremost try to understand how 3D printing as a production technique can contribute to optimize your supply chain. Second, once you have an understanding of the potential during the various stages of the manufacturing lifecycle, bring a team together with the key stakeholders.Next, define a concrete plan with clear deliverables; start small, learn quickly and scale fast.

The post Interview with Tibor van Melsem Kocsis of DiManEx on 3D Printing in the Supply Chain appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.