Case Study: Volvo Trucks achieves 94% faster tool production and major cost savings with Stratasys Fortus 3D Printing

Volvo Trucks' Slashes Time and Cost of Tool Production with Additive Manufacturing

Volvo Trucks was struggling with long lead times and high costs for durable metal tooling used in engine assembly—machined tools typically took about 36 days to design and manufacture. To speed up production and increase flexibility, Volvo Trucks partnered with Stratasys and adopted a Fortus 3D Production System to print production-grade ABSplus thermoplastic tools.

Using Stratasys’ Fortus system, Volvo Trucks reduced turnaround for many clamps, jigs and fixtures from 36 days to about 2 days (a 94% time reduction), printed more than 30 production tools within three months, and lowered all-in customization cost to as little as 1 euro per cubic centimeter—roughly 1% of the cost of machined metal—while achieving 100% fit-for-purpose performance and greater responsiveness to design changes.

Volvo Trucks

Pierre Jenny

Manufacturing Director