GE Brings Production-Volume Additive Manufacturing to Alabama
Company says the site could ultimately have 50 additive manufacturing machines. Nozzles made here will be shipped to an even newer manufacturing site in Indiana.
Share
Read Next
GE Aviation has announced that the LEAP engine fuel nozzle—the nozzle (shown) with a design made possible by additive manufacturing—will be mass-produced in Auburn, Alabama, starting next year. Up to 10 additive manufacturing machines will be installed at the company’s plant in Auburn, which was opened last year.
Additive manufacturing capacity will increase from there, the company says. Production demand for the new fuel nozzle is scheduled to ascend steeply, growing from an initial rate of 1,000 units per year to 40,000 per year by 2020. GE says the Auburn site could ultimately have more than 50 additive manufacturing machines, with nozzle production expanding to occupy a third of the facility.
Those nozzles will be sent to an even newer engine production plant in Lafayette, Indiana, that is scheduled to open next year. This $100 million plant, which will include both CNC machining and assembly, will be the seventh new U.S. manufacturing site in seven years for GE Aviation.
Related Content
-
ActivArmor Casts and Splints Are Shifting to Point-of-Care 3D Printing
ActivArmor offers individualized, 3D printed casts and splints for various diagnoses. The company is in the process of shifting to point-of-care printing and aims to promote positive healing outcomes and improved hygienics with customized support devices.
-
This Drone Bird with 3D Printed Parts Mimics a Peregrine Falcon: The Cool Parts Show #66
The Drone Bird Company has developed aircraft that mimic birds of prey to scare off problem birds. The drones feature 3D printed fuselages made by Parts on Demand from ALM materials.
-
DMG MORI: Build Plate “Pucks” Cut Postprocessing Time by 80%
For spinal implants and other small 3D printed parts made through laser powder bed fusion, separate clampable units resting within the build plate provide for easy transfer to a CNC lathe.
