Engine-maker Cummins starts selling 3D-printed parts to customers

First metal 3D-printed part Cummins built for a customer.

Excerpted and adapted from an article written by Cummins Inc. Director of Sustainability Communications Blair Claflin.

Cummins has sold its first metal part printed on one of its own 3D printers, moving the company a significant step closer to the exciting potential of additive manufacturing.

The part is a low-volume bracket for a customer in Cummins’ new and reconditioned-parts division that did not have a current supplier. “With this technology you can really unshackle the designer to do things you just can’t do using traditional forms of manufacturing,” said Brett Boas, the director of advanced manufacturing at the Cummins Technical Center in Columbus, Ind.

Parts can be made lighter, stronger, and more effectively using metal 3D printing, compared to parts created using more traditional methods that employ molds, molten metal, and equipment to precisely cut and shape the part.

It becomes significantly easier, for example, to design in weight where it’s needed and take weight out where it’s not, said Dr. Adeola “Addy” Olubamiji, Cummins’ first engineer hired for a full-time position in metal additive manufacturing development. It also means potentially bypassing those connecting parts that are unavoidable when using traditional manufacturing techniques.

The engine manufacturer is focusing first on printing low-volume parts as it studies how best to use 3D technology in higher-volume manufacturing.

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