Case Study: GKN Aerospace achieves cost savings and faster prototyping with Stratasys additive manufacturing

GKN Aerospace cuts production concessions by 40% with Stratasys

GKN Aerospace, a leading aerospace supplier, faced challenges with costly production downtime due to broken tools and the need to produce highly realistic prototypes under tight deadlines. To address this, their additive manufacturing specialist turned to 3D printing technology from vendor Stratasys, utilizing a Fortus 900mc printer.

Stratasys provided a solution through additive manufacturing, enabling the rapid production of tools and fully-functional prototypes. This resulted in significant time and cost savings for GKN Aerospace. In one instance, a realistic aircraft windscreen housing was printed in hours for a product launch. The solution also reduced tool replacement lead times, alleviated production backlogs, and in certain cases, led to a 40% reduction in concessions and a reduction in required operators.

GKN Aerospace