Although they work across a wide variety of vehicles, the Polaris team members have one thing in common – they say partnering with Stratasys has opened up new possibilities.
“The biggest benefit is the ability to iterate on new tooling designs. To come up with a design, test it, improve on it and repeat until we get to a good final product has been very helpful,” said Dan Wiatrowski.
The use of elastomer material has enabled the team at Polaris to rapidly iterate and test multiple, geometrically accurate designs for the intake duct on one of their vehicles. “It allows us to 3D print parts and upfit on our vehicles quickly, to help catch mistakes or identify areas for improvement, giving us better understanding of which designs we want to pursue,” explained Will Fickenscher.
Polaris says the road ahead is an exciting one – and insists Stratasys will be along for the ride.
Anthony Stecker, Plant Director, Indian Motorcycles, said, “Working with Stratasys has helped open our minds to what’s possible with complex problems and geometries.” He said 3D printing will now help Polaris come up with better manufacturing aids and techniques, protect vehicles during the manufacturing process, and revolutionize the continuous improvement journey.
He added, “Being able to get a product from ideation, through manufacturing and into the customer’s hands – in a very short cycle – is how we will win.”
His excitement at what’s possible was echoed by Will Fickenscher. “Stratasys has really helped broaden our horizons. Using its technology will now allow us to design products differently and more effectively.”
Cory Bombard summed it up: “We’re really excited about the future of additive manufacturing and are looking forward to continuing the partnership with Stratasys.”
“A lot of what we do works around different styles of tooling. So anything from regular hard plastic 3D printing materials up to some of the new, more innovative materials."
“We install a lot of complex parts, badging, head dresses, things of that nature to our vehicles. We also, work with a lot of chrome and painted parts, and we have strict cosmetic standards that we need to uphold for our customers.” Prototype tooling costs are also an ever-present issue – however, Dan insists 3D printing has helped them reduce costs. “With all the hands-on assembly work that we do in the plant, we’ve begun using 3D printing to change the way we think about tooling.”
