The automotive industry is undergoing rapid transformation as consumer habits and regulatory obligations create increasing pressure to switch from fossil fuels to electric vehicles. Ford is leading this change, just as it did with the production of the Model T and the introduction of the assembly line more than 100 years ago, and plans to sell only electric vehicles in Europe by 2030.
Ford Motor Company is the sixth largest automobile manufacturer in the world, with production of over 4 million vehicles annually and more than 175,000 employees worldwide. At the heart of Ford's European operations is Ford Köln, founded in 1930, best known for assembling the Ford Fiesta.
In close proximity to the factory, PD Merkenich serves as the development center responsible for the design of all passenger vehicles for the European market, including successful models such as the Fiesta, Focus, Kuga, and now the all-electric Explorer, the first EV for the European market, which recently entered series production at the Cologne factory. The team also supports commercial vehicle development, working with Ford's Dunton Technical Center in the UK.
How does Ford manage to deal with intense competition and ever shorter development cycles? Read on to gain insight into PD Merkenich's Rapid Technology Center, which plays a key role in rapid prototyping for product development.
Tools for the production of car prototypes
"Prototyping is very important in the development process. It allows you, the engineer, to verify the design. If you later have to rework an injection molding tool or a production tool, it is very expensive. It takes a lot of time, so you will have production downtime in the worst case. This can be avoided by using prototyping and applying all available technologies," said Sandro Piroddi, supervisor of the Rapid Technology Center at Ford.
Prototyping full-scale vehicles requires a wide range of tools. The Rapid Technology Center is a spacious hall that is equipped with the latest manufacturing methods: it has its own injection molding machines, molding tools and a wide range of machining tools, for example, milling machines that can machine even the largest chassis panels.
Of course, the list would not be complete without additive manufacturing. PD Merkenich was actually the first workshop in Europe to use a stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer in 1994, and has since expanded its fleet to include a range of fused deposition deposition (FDM), SLA and selective laser sintering (SLS) polymer 3D printers, as well as metal 3D printers.
Although the first conceptual models are still being developed from clay, as product development moves into later stages and as each component gets closer to its final form, it is increasingly important to be able to test both form and function using materials and processes that are as close to production as possible.
With ever-shortening development timelines, the Rapid Technology Center is constantly looking for advances in additive manufacturing that can enable them to speed up the delivery of components.
Developing design prototypes using SLA 3D printing
SLA 3D printers are mainly used in the workshop for design prototypes that require good surface quality and must be produced quickly for rapid iterations. The first Formlabs printer at PD Merkenich was the Form 2, but they quickly expanded their fleet to include more desktop units and a large format Form 3L SLA 3D printer. They were recently among the first companies to acquire the Form 4, the latest MSLA 3D printer from Formlabs.
"The Form 4 is very fast, I think it's the best machine I've seen so far in terms of speed. It's really a very good improvement compared to previous models. It's easier to use, so it's much easier for the operators in our workshop to learn how to work with the machine and get good quality parts," said Bruno Alves, additive manufacturing expert and tooling specialist at Ford.
"A few years ago it was days, and now we're printing parts in minutes. So engineers are no longer afraid to make new designs and new iterations, because now they know they'll get the parts very quickly," Alves added.
The fast print speed now allows the RTC team to fulfill multiple requests within 24 hours — even those coming from the UK, where they can quickly deliver parts via overnight shipment.
For the new Explorer, the team used SLA 3D printing to validate the design of many exterior and interior parts.
"The Form 3L allows us to print large parts, for example, the exterior of the vehicle body. We printed this mirror cap to validate the design. 3D printing is suitable for this application because it is fast and we can have very good quality compared to mass-produced parts," said Alves.