Wabtec and HP Partner on Facility for Railway 3D Printing

IMTS

Share this Article

From spare aircraft parts to interior décor, nearly entirely 3D printed car prototypes, and train parts that can be printed out easily rather than tracked down years after they may have become almost obsolete, 3D printing has put its stamp on the transportation industry. And while it may allow for better business in terms of cost analysis and the ability to show off flashy prototypes as needed, the benefits are vast for railroad companies in need of parts that may be decades old and extremely difficult to attain later. As the railroad industry continues to embrace the benefits of 3D printing, international businesses like Wabtec are working with other major industry leaders to amp up production of 3D printed parts for the entire rail industry within India—a country acting as the second-largest market for Wabtec, according to the rail equipment supplier.

Wabtec Corporation will now be working with both HP and Redington to open a “center for excellence” in India:

“Wabtec Corporation, in collaboration with HP and Redington, inaugurated Tuesday an Additive Manufacturing Centre focused on accelerating the design and production of integrated 3D-printed components in India. This Centre of Excellence (CoE), named ‘Wabtec India Additive Manufacturing Centre,’ will offer consulting, part identification and production for locomotives, transit entities and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.”

The CoE is actually on-site at an established Wabtec factory in Bengaluru, one of India’s largest cities, and the capital of Karnataka. Currently, Wabtec as the provider of services for both freight and transit rail is also an industry leader in a growing range of solutions for applications in mining, marine science, and other industrial endeavors.

The components that will be 3D printed range from adapters and IOT shield covers for brake controllers to customized dispenser tips and sensor holders

Within the additive manufacturing space, Wabtec plans to use the CoE to further their very ambitious strategy for the design and production of 25,000 industrial parts by 2025. The CoE is solidified by a combination of Wabtec’s experience in industrial manufacturing, HP multi-jet fusion technology, and Redington’s comprehensive supply chain. The CoE will also offer consulting services.

Wabtec recently opened an AM facility in Western Pennsylvania, along with making major headlines upon a merger with GE Transportation a couple of years ago.

As the railway industry continues to embrace 3D printing, companies like Wabtec (already using GE’s metal binder jetting technology) are a perfect example of global corporations enjoying the benefits—from greater affordability, to speed in production, less materials waste—and the ability to manufacture parts quickly, even if they have become obsolete. In working with both HP and Redington, Wabtec will also be producing functional parts like industrial adapters, IoT controlling mechanisms, dispenser tips, sensor holders, and more. Ultimately, they hope their strategy will increase products sourced from India.

[Sources: International Railway Journal; Business Line]

Share this Article


Recent News

Will There Be a Desktop Manufacturing Revolution outside of 3D Printing?

Know Your Würth: CEO AJ Strandquist on How Würth Additive Can Change 3D Printing



Categories

3D Design

3D Printed Art

3D Printed Food

3D Printed Guns


You May Also Like

Featured

Pressing Refresh: What CEO Brad Kreger and Velo3D Have Learned About Running a 3D Printing Company

To whatever extent a business is successful thanks to specialization, businesses will nonetheless always be holistic entities. A company isn’t a bunch of compartments that all happen to share the...

Würth Additive Launches Digital Inventory Services Platform Driven by 3D Printing

Last week, at the Additive Manufacturing Users’ Group (AMUG) Conference in Chicago (March 10-14), Würth Additive Group (WAG) launched its new inventory management platform, Digital Inventory Services (DIS). WAG is...

Featured

Hypersonic Heats Up: CEO Joe Laurienti on the Success of Ursa Major’s 3D Printed Engine

“It’s only been about 24 hours now, so I’m still digesting it,” Joe Laurienti said. But even via Zoom, it was easy to notice that the CEO was satisfied. The...

Featured

3D Printing’s Next Generation of Leadership: A Conversation with Additive Minds’ Dr. Gregory Hayes

It’s easy to forget sometimes that social media isn’t reality. So, at the end of 2023, when a burst of doom and gloom started to spread across the Western world’s...