General Electric Co. is a leading supplier of jet and turboprop engines, avionics, and electrical power and mechanical systems. Its products are used in a wide variety of commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft.
LEETONIA, OH—Humtown Products, a manufacturer of sand cores and molds, has installed a $1 million 3D sand printer at its factory here. The machine operates like 3D printers for resin, creating molds for metal casting by “printing” layers of fine sand.
Additive manufacturing has become a buzzword in manufacturing today. It has improved tremendously over the past few decades, and it is evolving from a technology for simple prototyping to one that can be used to make actual parts and tooling.
Taking a part that was assembled from several components and reducing it to one 3D-printed part has obvious benefits like weight reduction. But there are also other value propositions that start from the beginning of the design phase and reach towards end-use safety and reliability.
Whether a manufacturer is large or small, it’s always interested in saving money—whether it’s a large or small amount. Consider a huge company like Lockheed Martin Space Systems, and its constant need to cut costs in every aspect of a project, such as parts needed to build a satellite.
PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, MI—Oerlikon will build a new, state-of-the-art factory here to make advanced materials for additive manufacturing and high-end surface coatings.
Approximately 2 percent of adults aged 45 to 54 have disabling hearing loss. That rate increases to 8.5 percent for adults aged 55 to 64, 25 percent for those aged 65 to 74, and 50 percent for those who are 75 and older.
OAK RIDGE, TN—Engineers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created the world’s largest solid 3D-printed structure. Measuring 17.5 feet long, 5.5 feet wide and 1.5 feet tall, the structure is a trim-and-drill fixture for manufacturing a component of the Boeing 777X passenger jet.
JACKSONVILLE, FL—German medical device manufacturer KLS Martin Group is building its first U.S. assembly plant here. The new facility is expected to employ 25 people and focus on 3D printing and milling of products for reconstructive surgery.