Case Study: CNH Industrial achieves supply chain resilience and on-time delivery with Materialise's additive manufacturing

How AM Is Helping CNH Steer a Stronger Supply Chain Strategy

CNH Industrial, a global capital‑goods manufacturer with 67 plants and an inventory of some 8 million parts, faced a complex supply‑chain and aftermarket challenge made worse by the COVID‑19 pandemic. To reduce inventory, improve part availability and de‑risk its supply chain, CNH Industrial partnered with Materialise—working particularly with the Materialise Mindware team—to take additive manufacturing (AM) beyond prototyping and embed it into a strategic spare‑parts and production tooling approach.

Materialise helped CNH rapidly implement AM solutions, printing PPE, hands‑free door openers and production tools, and crucially producing a clamping fixture in one week that avoided a potential €189,000 production loss (3D printing cost €806 vs the stop‑assembly loss) and ensured on‑time customer fulfillment. Working with Materialise also enabled broader benefits—about 50% of facilities now use AM for jigs/fixtures, CNH can meet low‑volume orders without tooling investment, and it reports roughly a 90% saving on tooling and minimum‑order costs for certain parts.

CNH Industrial

Peter Ommeslag

Director and Industry 4.0 Global Program Lead