Monday, 08 April 2019 11:12

3D comes to farm

Written by  Mark Daniel

CNH Industrial has made its first 3-D printed spare parts, showing the farm machinery industry to be right up with emerging new technologies.

The company, whose brands include Case IH, New Holland and Steyr, says the process is “part of a continual drive to streamline manufacturing processes, increase productivity and find more sustainable ways of working”.

3-D printing makes components from a digital file to build up layers of material under control; each completed part is subject to stringent testing to ensure it meets the CNH Industrial specification.

Each ‘printed’ part is created in 24 - 36 hours with optimal use of raw materials -- in contrast to traditional manufacturing processes. 3-D printing causes less waste or surplus material and minimises machine downtime. 

Plastic is the manufacturing medium of the moment, but metallic parts are expected to emerge from testing.

A key benefit of 3-D is local, on-demand manufacturing of spare parts, leading to better stock management, particularly if small volumes of uncommon parts are required urgently.

More like this

Team effort to rebuild fences

Nine months after Cyclone Gabrielle struck, affected farmers are slowly getting back on their feet, and many have the CNH Industrial initiative ‘Commence the Re-Fence’ to thank for helping relieve some of the pain of the massive rebuild.

CNH buys GNSS

CNH Industrial has completed its purchase of the global satellite navigation technology leader Hemisphere GNSS (Hemisphere) for a total price of US$175 million, following on from the initial intention signalled earlier in the year.

Norwood makes tough calls

Following the dealership agreement between CNH Industrial and Norwood ending on 12 January 2023, the Palmerston North headquartered business has announced that it will close four of its locations, reduce the size of one dealership and lose 36 staff in a realignment of its retail network and business strategy.

Featured

Jack Jordan takes Stihl Timbersports gold for NZ

Going one better than a frustratingly close second place finish at last year's event, the country's top axeman, Jack Jordan of Taumaranui, last weekend won the Stihl Timbersports World Championship individual event in.

Canterbury A&P Show expands with new Wool Zone

Canterbury A&P Association (CAPA) show president Brent Chamberlain says a big development for this year is the Wool Zone, first introduced two years ago as a showplace for everything produced from wool, but now greatly enlarged with its own Wool Marquee and more than 30 trade sites.

National

Machinery & Products

New pick-up for Reiter R10 merger

Building on experience gained during 10 years of making mergers/ windrowers, Austrian company Reiter has announced the secondgeneration pick-up on…

Krone EasyCut B1250 fold

In 2024, German manufacturer Krone introduced the F400 Fold, a 4m wide disc front mower, featuring end modules that hinge…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Microplastics problem

OPINION: Microplastics are turning up just about everywhere in the global food supply, including in fish, cups of tea, and…

Job cuts

OPINION: At a time when dairy prices are at record highs, no one was expecting the world's second largest dairy…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter