Auto Parts, Fresh From the Oven: Volkswagen commits to 3-D print 100k parts by 2025

Toronto, Ontario — Volkswagen has announced that they are going all-in on 3-D printing as the company pledged it’s goal to produce 100,000 printed components a year by 2025.

“Together with our partners, we aim to make 3D printing even more efficient in the years ahead and suitable for production-line use,” Volkswagen production and logistics board member Christian Vollmer said in a statement.

Announced on Friday, Volkwagen’s aims to reach its 3-D printing goals through the use of a brand new printing process called “binder jetting”.

According to Volkswagen, this process “could 3D-print A-pillar parts for the T-Roc convertible which weighed almost 50 percent less than sheet steel versions.”

“Whereas conventional 3D printing uses a laser to build a component layer by layer from metallic powder, the binder jetting process uses an adhesive,” read the statement from Volkswagen. “The resulting metallic component is then heated and shaped.”

This process will be undergone at Volkswagen’s Wolfsberg, Germany facility.