制造商们正积极拥抱一种新型生产线：3D打印。制造商表示，这项技术正帮助他们降低成本、提高速度。该技术已存在数十年，但在汽车行业正变得更加普及，3D打印机被用于制造从车辆零部件、配件到装配厂工具，再到研发实验室测试单元的各种物品。
are leaning into a new type of manufacturing line: 3D printing. Manufacturers say it's helping them reduce costs and increase speed. The technology has been around for decades, but it's becoming more commoditized in the automotive industry, with 3D printers used to create everything from vehicle parts and accessories to tools for assembly plants and testing units for research and development labs.
“到了这个地步，我们别无选择，只能扩大规模，并开始在Rivian的各个部门全面使用它，”Rivian增材制造负责人Jared Beck在底特律郊区该车企广阔的3D打印运营中心参观期间对CNBC表示。“我们将让3D打印在全公司普及。”
"At this point, we don't have a choice but to scale up and begin using it through all factions of Rivian," Jared Beck, head of Rivian's additive manufacturing, told CNBC during a tour of the automaker's expansive 3D-printing operations in suburban Detroit. "We're going to be democratizing 3D printing for the entire company."
3D打印的优势 3D打印也称为增材制造，它能根据数字设计，通过逐层喷射材料来创建三维物体，这与传统打印机在纸上喷墨的原理很像。不同之处在于，这些机器使用的不是墨水，而是塑料、复合材料、陶瓷甚至金属等多种材料。
The benefits of 3D printing Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing can create three-dimensional objects from digital designs by dispensing material layer by layer, much like a traditional printer does with ink on paper. Instead of ink, the machines use a wide variety of materials such as plastics, composites, ceramics and even metals.
Rivian新款R2 SUV的新方向盘从3D打印件进化为位于密歇根州普利茅斯工厂的量产成品设计。Michael Wayland / CNBC打印机价格从几百美元的爱好者级设备到几十万美元的专业设备不等，具体取决于所生产产品的尺寸和所需材料。它们既可生产单个零件，也可利用粉末和树脂批量生产数百个较小零件。
The progression of the new steering wheel for Rivian's new R2 SUV from 3D print to finished design for production at its facility in Plymouth, Michigan. Michael Wayland / CNBC Printers can range from hundreds of dollars for hobby-like devices to hundreds of thousands of dollars for specialty equipment, depending on how big the product being produced is and the material it needs. They can produce individual pieces or hundreds of smaller parts in a batch using powders and resins.
Rivian表示，公司在3D打印机上的投入已超过500万美元，运营材料成本已增长至每年约170万美元。
Rivian said it has spent more than $5 million on 3D-printing machines, with the cost of materials for the operations growing to about $1.7 million annually.
Beck表示，尽管成本不菲，但这些机器通常在一年内就能收回成本。他称，该技术有助于降低供应商模具成本、精简物流开支，并将零部件生产时间从几周缩短至几天，甚至几小时。
Beck said despite the costs, the machines typically pay for themselves within a year. He said the technology helps lower supplier tooling costs, streamline logistics expenses and cut production times for parts from weeks to days, if not hours.
“节省的资金已达数百万美元，但对Rivian来说，关键在于速度，”贝克说。
"It's well in the millions [for savings], but the main thing is speed for Rivian," Beck said.
这家纯电动汽车公司最新扩大了3D打印应用，包括引入能够制造柔性硅胶零件的新设备，以及在其位于伊利诺伊州诺默尔的工厂安装了一排机器，供员工按需打印零件。
The all-electric vehicle company's latest expansion of 3D printing includes adding new machines that can build flexible silicone parts as well as installing a bay of machines at its plant in Normal, Illinois, for employees to print parts on demand.
一尊Rivian卡通吉祥物“加里”雪人的3D打印版矗立在Rivian位于密歇根州普利茅斯设施的增材制造区内。
A 3D-printed version of Rivian's cartoon Yeti mascot named Gary stands inside an additive manufacturing area at Rivian's facility in Plymouth, Michigan.
“3D打印件应随时可供每位工程师使用，以便他们能制造零件并尽快拿到手中，”贝克说。
"3D prints should be readily available for every engineer so that they can make a part and get it in their hands as soon as possible," Beck said.
Rivian还将该技术用于电机模型的流体测试、制造工装用螺丝导向器和冲压模具嵌件，以及一些生产零件，包括用于填补早期车型缝隙的饰条。
Rivian has also used the technology for electric-motor models for fluid testing, creating screw guides for tooling and stamping press inserts and some production parts, including trim pieces to fill gaps in some early builds.
通用、福特 在福特及其同城竞争对手通用汽车等规模更大、历史更悠久的车企，也在推行类似举措，它们已使用3D打印多年，包括在其大型装配厂内。
GM, Ford There's a similar push underway at larger, more-established automakers like Ford and its crosstown rival General Motors which have used 3D printing for many years, including in their massive assembly plants.
福特没有像Rivian那样设置一排3D打印机，而是在其许多工厂设立了增材制造部门，负责生产和分发所需零件。这包括在其密歇根州迪尔伯恩总部附近、为F-150皮卡生产服务的一个3D打印零件自动售货机。
Instead of having a bay of 3D-printing machines like at Rivian, Ford has departments for additive manufacturing at many of its plants to produce and distribute needed parts. That includes a new vending machine for 3D-printed parts for production of F-150 pickup trucks near its Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters.
福特机械工程师格雷戈里·福雷西在迪尔伯恩的鲁日河工厂内，举起他3D打印的一个装置，用于将车标重新安装到该车企的F-150皮卡上。
Gregory Foresi, a Ford mechanical engineer, holds up a device he 3D printed to reinstall vehicle badges onto the automaker's F-150 pickup trucks inside the River Rouge factory in Dearborn, Michigan.
“安装了这台自动售货机后，所有组长都能取用，”福特机械工程师格雷戈里·福雷西（Gregory Foresi）说。他从2024年起负责管理工厂的3D打印实验室，直到上个月。“我们能让这台机器始终备有库存，而不必让一堆零件散落在实验室里。这改进非常大。”福雷西使用了大约二十几台机器，打印了数千件工具，其中一些是由员工设计的，例如扭力批头套筒、引擎盖千斤顶和用于抹平胶粘剂的手动工具。
"By putting the vending machine up, all the team leaders have access," said Gregory Foresi, a Ford mechanical engineer who ran Ford's 3D-printing lab at the plant from 2024 until last month. "We're able to keep that thing stocked rather than have a bunch of parts laying around in the lab. So that's been pretty huge." Foresi used roughly two dozen machines to print off thousands of tools, some of which have been designed by employees, such as torque bit sockets, hood jackers and hand tools for smoothing adhesive.
员工可以通过一个应用程序申请打印特定的汽车零部件或工具。福特的3D打印团队协助开发这些零件，或决定下一步生产什么，因为制造不同零件所需的加工时间可能从几小时到几天，甚至几周不等。
Employees can use an app to request that specific auto parts or tools be printed. Ford's 3D-printing teams help develop them or determine what to produce next, as the machining time to build different parts can range from hours to days, if not weeks.
福雷西表示，利用3D打印制造工具，使这家车企能在需要时进行独特设计，更快获得工具，且在许多情况下成本更低。
Foresi said creating the tools with 3D printing has allowed the automaker to uniquely design them when needed, get them faster and, in many cases, receive them at a lower cost.
福特还利用3D打印零件帮助维持生产运转。例如，福雷西说，曾需要一个大型加工轮来维持装配线生产，公司在等待供应商提供永久替代件期间，通过3D打印制造了该零件。
Ford also has used 3D-printed parts to help keep production running. For example, Foresi said a large machining wheel was needed to maintain assembly line production and the company was able to 3D print the part until a permanent replacement from a supplier was available.
福特迪尔伯恩河畔鲁日工厂3D打印实验室内，一张桌子上摆满了3D打印的零件和工具。
A table full of 3D-printed parts and tools inside the 3D-printing lab at Ford's River Rouge factory in Dearborn, Michigan.
“它们的表现不如（原装件），并非我们采购零件的真正替代品，但它们让工厂保持了运转，”福雷西说。
"They didn't perform as well, and it's not really a replacement for the ones that we were purchasing, but they kept the plant running," Foresi said.
福特表示，预计到今年年底将在23家以上工厂部署3D实验室。公司称，其目前的3D打印项目拥有200多台打印机，官方项目之外还有额外的打印机。
Ford said it expects to have 3D labs deployed at more than 23 plants by the end of this year. Its current 3D-printing program has more than 200 machines, and there are additional printers outside the official program, the company said.
通用汽车除在研发和工厂内部使用外，还为部分低产量产品采用了3D打印零部件，其中包括近期扩大使用的工业级Stratasys打印机，此类设备根据用例、培训和认证的不同，价格可达数十万美元。
GM has used 3D-printed parts for some of its low-volume products in addition to research and development and inside plants, including recently expanding its use of industrial Stratasys printers that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars based on use case, training and certification.
这家底特律车企为其定制车型凯迪拉克Celestiq使用了135个3D打印组件，同时也为高性能车型凯迪拉克Blackwing系列轿车采用了其他3D打印组件，其中包括手动换挡杆顶端独特的徽章饰件。
The Detroit automaker uses 135 components that are 3D-printed for its bespoke Cadillac Celestiq as well as other components for its performance Cadillac Blackwing sedans, including a unique medallion on the manual shifter knob.
3D打印公司Stratasys汽车与出行业务全球高级总监Fadi Abro表示，通用汽车是企业如何“实现3D打印标准化并规模化应用”的绝佳范例。
Fadi Abro, senior global director of automotive and mobility at 3D-printing company Stratasys, said GM has been a great example of how companies can "standardize and then scale" 3D printing.
他说：“材料性能有了显著提升，因此应用场景也得到了改善。”他指出，该公司与几乎所有主要车企都有合作。“从产品角度来看，我们必须让这项技术在速度和可及性上更进一步，使其在经济层面更具可行性。” 一名通用汽车金属模型制作人员在该车企一家工厂的零部件打印间隙，擦拭3D打印机上的灰尘。通用汽车供图
"The material properties improved so significantly that the use cases improved," he said, noting the company works with virtually every major automaker. "From a product perspective, we have to get the technology to become faster and more accessible, in an economic sense." A GM metal model maker wipes dust from a 3D printer in between part builds at one of the Detroit automaker's facilities. Courtesy GM