Mercedes will 3D-print spare parts for its trucks

3D print technology is spreading all over the industry. It is the automotive industry turn now. Daimler company that produces Mercedes-Benz trucks is going to manufacture spare parts for its trucks using the 3D print technology. There will be 30 spare parts available for previous Actros series from September 2016. The advantages are obvious. These parts do not need to be manufactured in a factory and sent all over the world. They can be printed in service center only if they are needed. Therefore, also warehousing costs are minimized and it cuts other costs too. It is also beneficial for environment.

 

 

But that is not all. Because the parts are created on demand, it is able to produce the parts for very old trucks that are not in production for very long time. It will be much cheaper to print them on demand in comparison with ordinary production in very small quantities. Even now, there is 100,000 printed prototype parts already produced by Mercedes each year.

 

 

In the beginning, these parts may include various covers, caps, clamps, control elements and others. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) printing process is used and Daimler promises high quality print that meets quality standards of Mercedes-Benz. Because of the local production, the spare parts can be delivered much faster, especially when some special part is ordered. Daimler plans to rapidly extend the number of the parts that can be 3D-printed using the new system.

 

Source: media.daimler.com