Case Study: Global Automotive Brand reduces gripper cost and lead time with Ai Build additive manufacturing

Global Automotive Brand cuts gripper costs by 50% with Ai Build

A global automotive brand faced challenges with its traditional metal robotic grippers used for assembling large vehicle body panels. These grippers were heavy, expensive, and had long lead times from suppliers. They tasked the vendor, Ai Build, with revolutionizing this pick-and-placement process using additive manufacturing.

Ai Build utilized its own software integrated with a multi-axis printer to 3D print a complex polymer gripper in-house. This solution eliminated the need for support structures and significantly reduced both time and material waste. The results for the automotive brand were remarkable: a 50% reduction in cost and lead time, over 100,000 cycles of use, and energy savings of up to 5% per robotic arm.