Rivian Expands 3D Printing Operations With More Than $5 Million in Equipment

Rivian is pushing 3D printing beyond development work, putting more than $5 million into printing equipment and opening the technology up to more of its employees.

The EV maker says additive manufacturing is cutting costs and shortening the wait for tools and some vehicle parts, and it is adding an on-demand printing bay at its plant in Normal, Illinois.

Rivian wants every engineer to have access to 3D printing

Jared Beck, who heads additive manufacturing at Rivian, said the company now has to scale the technology across its whole organization.

“At this point, we don’t have a choice but to scale up and begin using it through all factions of Rivian,” Beck said. “We’re going to be democratizing 3D printing for the entire company,” he added, according to CNBC.

Its printer fleet has cost Rivian over $5 million so far, and materials now run roughly $1.7 million a year. Beck said the machines usually earn back their cost within a year by lowering supplier tooling bills and logistics spending.

Speed is the bigger payoff, he said, with parts that once took weeks now arriving in days or even hours. “It’s well in the millions [for savings], but the main thing is speed for Rivian,” Beck said.

The latest expansion adds machines that print flexible silicone parts, plus the new bay in Normal where employees can print parts when they need them. “3D prints should be readily available for every engineer so that they can make a part and get it in their hands as soon as possible,” Beck said.

Rivian already prints test models, tooling and some production parts

Rivian has used printed parts for electric-motor models in fluid testing, screw guides for tooling and inserts for stamping presses. It has also printed some production parts, including trim pieces that filled gaps on some early vehicle builds.

Larger automakers are moving in the same direction. Ford runs additive manufacturing departments at many of its plants, has more than 200 machines in its official program and expects 3D labs at more than 23 plants by the end of 2026. GM uses 135 printed components on the Cadillac Celestiq.

For Rivian, the goal is getting tools and parts into engineers’ hands faster as it builds out its EV production, while keeping costs down on low-volume needs.

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