January 29, 2016
VCE is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of construction equipment. The company’s broad product line includes haulers, loaders, excavators, compact equipment and road equipment. Volvo engineers in the US recently designed a new water pump housing for the company’s A25G and A30G articulated haulers. Engineers used simulation to optimise the design of internal flow passages in the housing, but needed to build a prototype to perform functional testing to validate the new design. Until recently, the company would have invested in tooling. The tooling cost for this project would have been approximately $9,090, with the part cost around $909. The lead time for producing the prototype would have been 20 weeks minimum. VCE management tasked the engineering team with cutting development costs and reducing the lead time on large engine projects from 36 to 24 months. Engineers felt that 3D printing would be a good benchmark to determine if printed parts could withstand functional testing. Water pump housing prototypes must be able to survive the heat and high pressure of the engine compartment. As…