Dive Brief:
- Caterpillar has inked an agreement with FIT AG to 3-D print aluminum and titanium parts for the heavy equipment manufacturer, according to Engineering.com.
- The three-year deal will look to develop new additive manufacturing solutions for construction equipment.
- With offices in Germany and Boston, FIT AG previously sold its Netfabb 3-D printing software to Autodesk.
Dive Insight:
With the successful production of a 3-D printed excavator by Project AME unveiled at ConExpo, the race is on to adapt additive manufacturing technologies to the heavy equipment space. While still considered an early stage technology with just a handful of players producing proof-of-concept works, 3-D printing holds the possibility of using additive manufacturing for job site production of tools, machine parts or even operable heavy equipment.
Companies like Apis Cor have been successful in downsizing the massive hardware footprint required by most 3-D print technologies, which have prevented the mobility necessary for wide-spread job site adoption. Apis Cor’s use of a crane arm, mobile 3-D printer to build a house in less than 24 hours shows the possibility of material and component creation for isolated job sites.
The current FIT AG deal is not Caterpillar’s first foray into 3-D printing. In May of 2016, the company launched a 3-D printing and additive manufacturing accelerator lab at the Caterpillar Global Research & Development Center in Mossville, IL.
