Nissan bolsters Barcelona factory with BCN3D 3D printing technology
Car or truck manufacturer Nissan has begun working with 3D printing know-how developed by BCN3D to bolster its automotive output strains in Spain.
It is been discovered that the company’s Barcelona manufacturing facility now functions IDEX FFF technological innovation, with elements these as resources, jigs, fixtures, and practical prototypes getting 3D printed. Before now, Nissan outsourced all of its tooling to 3rd-bash suppliers that operated on traditional production processes these as CNC machining. When the part excellent was in fact high, the business confronted very long direct times and superior expenditures, with straightforward metal applications often costing around €400 apiece.
By bringing the design and fabrication process in-dwelling, Nissan has reportedly slashed producing occasions from a 7 days to just a person day, all when chopping fees by an average of 95{3a9e182fe41da4ec11ee3596d5aeb8604cbf6806e2ad0e1498384eba6cf2307e}. Using BCN3D 3D printers, the firm has produced more than 700 areas so considerably, some of which value just €3.45. In reality, Nissan has been so amazed with its time and value cost savings that it now intends to utilize additive production at some of its other factories around the world.
Carlos Rellán Martínez, a manager at Nissan Motor Ibérica Zona Franca, Barcelona, suggests, “Outsourcing tools to a mechanical supplier was 20 moments much more high-priced than 3D printing the similar areas, when the wait for resources went from a week down to one day. By introducing 3D printing, we have improved extra value and generated minimal expenses, devoid of higher shipping and delivery moments. We have compensated off the investment in the printers really promptly.”
A new print farm in Barcelona
The Barcelona manufacturing unit now has its possess additive manufacturing laboratory, full with four massive-structure BCN3D Epsilon W50 3D printers capable of working 24/7. The workbench units element a construct quantity measuring 420 x 300 x 400mm and an actively heated, enclosed chamber. Considering that the machines all supply IDEX setups, Nissan is ready to print two identical sections at the same time, doubling the print farm’s throughput.
Additionally, the enterprise is also 1 of the to start with to use BCN3D’s new Wise Cabinet insert-on, a humidity management system for filament storage. As perfectly as preserving materials printability, the system also presents an uninterruptible electricity source to secure in opposition to blackouts.
Martínez adds, “The overall performance attained in phrases of dependability has been excellent. Our printer operates nearly 24 hours a day and each yr we’re printing all-around 100 diverse jigs and resources for certain use in our procedures.”
3D printing automotive tooling
The components staying 3D printed by Nissan include a software to fix a windshield centering gauge, which is generated working with TPU filament. With a print time of 14 several hours, the instrument expense the firm just €8. Engineers at the additive production lab also 3D printed a jig to position the design identify on the car and a lower drill positioning software, each of which had been 3D printed in Stomach muscles in less than a working day.
Eric Pallarés, CTO at BCN3D, concludes, “The automotive field is possibly the very best case in point of scaling up a complicated product or service with the demands of meeting best top quality specifications. It’s intriguing to see how the assembly process of a motor vehicle – where quite a few particular person components are put jointly in an assembly line – depends on FFF printed areas at nearly each phase.”
Nissan surely isn’t the initial manufacturer to undertake 3D printing for the generation line, as automotive tooling is a primary application of the technological innovation. Production provider provider FreeFORM Technologies not too long ago utilized binder jet 3D printing from ExOne to develop its individual lightweight automotive tooling. Especially, the business 3D printed a complicated stop-of-arm stainless metal element intended to be integrated with a six-axis FANUC robotic as part of an automatic component inspection process.
In other places, in Germany, car or truck producer Audi just lately began to use totally additively manufactured warm variety tooling at its Steel 3D Printing Centre in Ingolstadt. By doubling down on its use of EOS 3D printers, Audi is now equipped to make twelve distinct segments of 4 incredibly hot forming applications at the facility, which are later on applied to assemble auto styles these as the A4 saloon.
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Featured image exhibits a BCN3D Epsilon W50 3D printer at Nissan’s Barcelona factory. Photograph by way of BCN3D.
