Additive manufacturing could be used in the production of up to 250 locomotive components by 2025 if GE Transportation’s early trials of the technique prove successful.
The company is looking to build on the experience of GE’s aviation business over the past six years to develop additive manufacturing — sometimes referred to as 3D printing — as a means to reduce the time needed to produce components. The resulting components can also be more compact and more precisely designed to meet the end use requirement, Dominique Malenfant, Vice-President of Global Technology, told Railway Gazette at the InnoTrans trade show in Berlin on September 20.
