3-D printing has become increasingly popular in today's automotive market. This printing technology creates objects in layers with any material the user decides. Cadillac has had ownership of 3-D printing technology for the past thirty years, making parts since the late 1970s starting with John Bolognino, the Head of the Design Fabrication Division. The company makes prototype parts and vehicles in their state of the art facilities with ease, pushing out over 250,000 3-D printed parts for the past 10 years.
Moving Forward
Today, Cadillac is utilizing 3-D printing in its factories alongside Bay Area design software company Autodesk, to combine design software and 3-D printing. This means the manufacturing of a Cadillac vehicle is now easier and more efficient. With help from cloud computing and artificial intelligence to explore new design options, weight, strength, material, and fabrication of a specific part is extremely accurate.
This technology introduces additive manufacturing to the public, which means personalization is more possible than ever. With a wide range of materials available like metals, alloys, and even plastic resins, the possibilities are endless. Thanks to this, vehicles are becoming lighter and more fuel-efficient with every passing year. Just last year, Cadillac increased the volume of 3-D printed parts and reportedly made parts not just forty percent lighter but also twenty percent stronger
The Future
Cadillac is currently at the forefront of 3-D printed technology, far ahead of other automotive manufacturers. This new technology gives them the opportunity to rapidly produce prototypes so they can visualize and understand what new sort of auto part or configuration would look like. Cadillac believes they can fold the 3-D process into actually producing cars that real people can drive everyday right off the line.
Their first step in this direction of integrating 3-D printing into car making comes in the form of a stainless steel seat brackets. With the printer, Cadillac is able to make something that requires eight pieces and transform them into one continuous component, making it lighter and stronger than its predecessor. This highlights the future with 3-D printing which will produce faster vehicles as well as making them lighter.
Autodesk keeps an engineer on sight to input parameters, materials and go over elements such as screw placement, cost, object stiffness or mass. They also help with coming up with inventive ways to configure part. A Cadillac has about 30,000 parts in each vehicle, a number that Cadillac intends to decrease in hopes of moving to completely 3D printed vehicles. Currently, they use this technology for additive production and customize decorative elements for buyers but sooner rather than later the change will come.
At Sunset Cadillac Sarasota, our vehicles are on the cutting-edge. We'd love to help you out on your Cadillac purchase, simply give us a call at (941) 312-2807 or visit our showroom Monday - Saturday.
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