Rivian and Ford Scale 3D Printing to Cut Costs and Speed Up Plants

Rivian has spent more than $5 million on 3D-printing machines, and the electric-vehicle maker says the investment pays for itself within a year through lower tooling costs, cheaper logistics and parts that arrive in days instead of weeks.

"At this point, we don't have a choice but to scale up and begin using it through all factions of Rivian," said Jared Beck, head of Rivian's additive manufacturing. "We're going to be democratizing 3D printing for the entire company." Beck spoke to CNBC during a tour of Rivian's 3D-printing operations in suburban Detroit.

Rivian now spends about $1.7 million a year on materials for the operation. Beck said the savings run "well in the millions," but speed matters more. "The main thing is speed for Rivian," he said.

How does the technology work?

Also called additive manufacturing, 3D printing builds three-dimensional objects from digital designs by dispensing material layer by layer. The machines use plastics, composites, ceramics and metals rather than ink. Prices range from hundreds of dollars for hobby devices to hundreds of thousands for specialty equipment. Printers can produce a single piece or hundreds of smaller parts per batch using powders and resins.

The technology isn't new — it has existed for decades — but it's now commoditizing across the automotive industry. Carmakers use it for vehicle parts, accessories, assembly-plant tools and testing units in R&D labs.

What has Rivian actually printed?

Rivian's latest expansion adds machines that build flexible silicone parts. The company also installed a bay of printers at its plant in Normal, Illinois, so employees can print parts on demand.

"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 has printed electric-motor models for fluid testing, screw guides for tooling, stamping press inserts and some production parts, including trim pieces that filled gaps in early vehicle builds.

What are Ford and GM doing?

Ford runs additive-manufacturing departments at many plants rather than a single printer bay. Near its Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters, the company installed a vending machine stocked with 3D-printed parts for F-150 pickup production.

"By putting the vending machine up, all the team leaders have access," said Gregory Foresi, a Ford mechanical engineer who ran the 3D-printing lab at that 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's roughly two dozen machines printed thousands of tools, some designed by employees themselves: torque bit sockets, hood jackers and hand tools for smoothing adhesive. Workers request parts or tools through an app. Ford's 3D-printing teams develop them or decide what to produce next, with machining times ranging from hours to days, if not weeks.

The printed tools let Ford design parts uniquely, get them faster and often buy them cheaper, Foresi said. 3D printing has also kept assembly lines moving. When Ford needed a large machining wheel to maintain production, it printed the part as a stopgap until a supplier delivered a permanent replacement.

"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.

Ford expects 3D labs at more than 23 plants by the end of this year. Its official program runs more than 200 machines, with additional printers outside the program, the company said.

General Motors uses 3D-printed parts for low-volume products, R&D and inside plants. It recently expanded its use of industrial Stratasys printers, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on use case, training and certification. GM's bespoke Cadillac Celestiq carries 135 3D-printed components, and its Cadillac Blackwing performance sedans use printed parts including a unique medallion on the manual shifter knob.

What's next for additive manufacturing?

Fadi Abro, senior global director of automotive and mobility at Stratasys, said GM shows how companies can "standardize and then scale" 3D printing. "The material properties improved so significantly that the use cases improved," he said, noting Stratasys works with virtually every major automaker. His next hurdle is economic: "From a product perspective, we have to get the technology to become faster and more accessible, in an economic sense."