AUTOMOTIVE DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION
Full throttle production.
The automotive and transport industries are under huge amounts of pressure to innovate faster. Vehicles need to be faster, safer, lighter and more efficient. Emissions must be lowered. To stay in the game, manufacturers need to take all these factors into account and deliver on competitive performance and price. They need to be better and faster than their competitors.
We have been helping our customers outperform their competitors since 2003. Our services, technologies and range of materials are specifically designed for the automotive and transport industry. They support quick decision-making at the product design and production stages.
Through these services we’ve helped our automotive customers to innovate, develop, test, improve and produce high quality parts. We’ve supported them through concept visualization and design iterations. We helped them find production solutions. We’ve been flexible and kept costs down. And we’ve made sure they’re happy. Time and again.
- Design support to ensure functional elements align with manufacturability
- Achieve first-to-market product launches with our rapid prototyping assistance
- Lower inventory spending with our production and low volume solutions
- Increase production quality and accuracy with custom jigs, fixtures and gauges

Prototyping and low volume production of end use parts

Exteriors and Exterior Trim
e.g. Bumpers, windbreakers, brackets and mounts
Technology:
AM: SLA / SLS / FFF / DLS / MJF
Rapid Technologies: RIM, Vac Casting
CNC: Tooling, gauges, jigs and fixtures
Materials: Polymers, foams, steel, aluminium

Interior Trim and Seating
e.g. Dashboards, seat frames, seat padding, buttons, badges, impact absorption
Technology:
AM: SLS / FFF / DLS / MJF
Rapid Technologies: RIM, Vac Casting, Silicone Casting
CNC: Component parts, tooling, gauges, jigs and fixtures
Materials: Polymers, elastomers, steel, aluminium, silicones

Manufacturing Process
e.g. Prototyping, tooling and quality control
Technology:
AM: SLA / SLS / FFF / DLS / MJF
Rapid Technologies: RIM, Vac Casting, Silicone Casting
CNC: Customised tooling, gauges, jigs and fixtures
Materials: Polymers, elastomers, steel, aluminium, silicones

Exhausts, emissions and fluid systems
e.g. Cooling vents, ducts, pipe connectors and fluid routing systems
Technology:
AM: SLS / FFF / DLS / MJF
Rapid Technologies: RIM, Vac Casting
CNC: Component parts, tooling
Materials: Polymers, elastomers, esters, steel, aluminium, silicones and custom requirements

Fluid handling
e.g. Pumps, valves, fluid manifolds, clips, impellers
Technology:
AM: SLA / SLS / FFF / DLS / MJF
Rapid Technologies: RIM, Vac Casting, Silicone moulding
CNC: Component parts, tooling
Materials:
Polymers, elastomers, esters, steel, aluminium, silicones and custom requirements

Electronics
e.g. Housing, embedded components, buttons and switches
Technology:
AM: SLS / DLS / MJF
Materials: Polymers, elastomers, esters

Wheels, tyres, suspension
e.g. Hubcaps, suspension components, dampers
Technology:
AM: SLS / FFF / DLS / MJF
Rapid Technologies: RIM, Vac Casting
CNC: Component parts, tooling
Materials: Polymers, alloys, steel, aluminium, and custom requirements

OEM components
e.g. Petrol caps, dampers, fluid routing, brackets and mounts, doors, dash components, ventilation grills, knobs, buttons, clips, verification builds
Technology:
AM: SLA / SLS / FFF / DLS / MJF
Rapid Technologies: RIM, Vac Casting, Silicone moulding
CNC: Component parts, tooling
Materials:
Polymers, elastomers, esters, steel, aluminium, silicones and custom requirement

Powertrain and drivetrain
e.g. Fuel cell components, switches and valves, electrical connectors
Technology:
AM: SLS / DLS / MJF
CNC: Component parts, tooling
Materials: Polymers, alloys, steel, aluminium

Additive Manufacturing advantages for Automotive
Tool free solutions for production parts
We know that if you are to win that race to market, you also need to be able to create high-strength production parts in a tight time frame. Or, you’ll need to flex your supply chain with end-use parts on demand. They’ll comprise complex geometries yet need to be tough enough to endure the rigors of everyday use, high-speed racing or off-roading. The technology you choose will need to deliver on value and on economies of scale. Our Digital Light Synthesis and Multi Jet Fusion printers provide access to a wide range of production-ready resins and enable you to do just this.

Validation Prototyping at Pre-Production
Check form and fit for cockpit and under bonnet applications requiring high levels of strength and durability.

Production
Low to mid volumes of end use parts with consistent isotropic properties. A wide variety of approved engineering resins including flexible rubbers and silicones.

Applications
Air and fluid routing, electronics housing, speakers, grills, surface textures, dashboard trim, impact absorption areas, dampers, brackets, mounts, buttons, badges and trim.

Rapid Technologies advantages for Automotive
Increase speed to market with rapid prototyping and low volume manufacturing solutions
Shorten production times for revolutionary ideas and enhance quality with a suite of rapid validation prototyping and testing services. Our range of technologies, and our team of trained engineers, deliver highly accurate, production-representative parts produced quickly and efficiently, using low-cost tooling capabilities.
When it comes to ready to run parts, we enable you to shrink your supply chain with low cost solutions including on demand and low volume production of large, strong, flexible, lightweight parts. Our services include 3D printing, vacuum casting, reaction injection moulding and silicone casting.

Validation Prototyping at Pre-Production
Check form and fit for cockpit and under bonnet applications requiring high levels of strength and durability.

Production
Low to mid volumes of end use parts with consistent isotropic properties. A wide variety of approved engineering resins including flexible rubbers and silicones.

Applications
Air and fluid routing, electronics housing, speakers, grills, surface textures, dashboard trim, impact absorption areas, dampers, brackets, mounts, buttons, badges and trim.

CNC technology advantages for Automotive
Lower costs and assure quality with end-to-end supply chain management, and faster tooling and part production times
Our contract-managed CNC solutions, coupled with our comprehensive, tight tolerance milling and turning capabilities, enable serious improvement in production processes. With a focus on ensuring consistent quality, regardless of the quantity of machined parts you require, we support automotive production with custom gauges, jigs and fixtures, 3 and 5 axis milling, turning, tool creation, mould modifications and inspection.
We’re perfectly positioned to enable you to flex your supply chain and reduce warehousing costs with on-demand production of machined component parts.

Design Support
For gauges, jigs and fixtures. Working together to ensure creative and functional elements align with repeatability, and quality is assured at the point of manufacture.

Production
3- and 5-axis milling and turning to create prototypes and production parts. Lower inventory spending and meet quality and delivery targets with contract manufacturing.

Tooling
Our large-gantry, state-of-the-art CNC machines provide facility for production of assembly, RIM, vac, press, and hammer form tools as well as specialist dies and moulds.