What’s Pushing 3D Printing Into Rail Production?

For years, simply proving that a rail part could be 3D printed was a big step. Now, that is becoming the easy part. Rail companies want to know whether those parts can be made reliably, meet strict safety standards, and ultimately be approved for use on actual trains. Trains can stay in service for decades, often long after some of their original parts are no longer being made.

“Today, customers ask how to integrate additive manufacturing into production, how to qualify components, how to manage digital inventories, and how to scale manufacturing across multiple facilities while maintaining consistency. Five years ago, many discussions focused on how a part could be printed,” Gurvinder Kahlon of Stratasys told 3DPrint.com. The change is already showing up in conversations with customers.