DI Labs hosted a workshop at our facility and was honored to have Ben Thul, AGCO Manufacturing Engineer, as a guest speaker.
Ben Thul, Manufacturing Engineer and Additive Leader
Ben has been working in the Jackson, MN, AGCO facility for five years. Since 2021, he's been focused on successfully adopting additive manufacturing and leading AGCO's investment in HP's MJF technology, which they deployed in March of 2023. Ben is now responsible for helping to implement end-use parts and supporting the development of 3D-printed manufacturing tools. He does this for AGCO's Jackson, MN, facility, but for the North American region, as well. Ben's work in Jackson is setting an example for other AGCO facilities around the world to further deploy additive manufacturing technologies in the future.
About AGCO
AGCO is the world's largest manufacturer of machinery and equipment focused solely on the agricultural industry. The major brands they manufacture include Fendt®, GSI®, Massey Ferguson®, Challenger, Valtra®, and Gleaner Combines. AGCO’s Jackson, Minnesota, facility spans 130 acres, has 900 employees, and builds 6 unique products. All of these products are low-volume and highly customizable.
Core functionalities at the Jackson location are fabrication, welding, painting, assembly, product design engineering, and product development.
AGCO's 3D Printing Adoption Timeline
- 2020-21 - Learning on a Budget - In 2020, AGCO began its adoption of additive manufacturing technologies with a focus on learning 3D printing on a budget. The struggles they experienced included lots of failures, unorganized work areas, no experts on site, no methodology for finding new applications, and no methodology for saving work
- 2020-21 - Affordable Upgrade: In 2021, they took some of those lessons and invested more in the technology with desktop-scale FDM machines. This phase included getting a project budget, getting more modern printers, and using more reliable, higher-performance materials. With these upgrades, they could print holding fixtures, paint masks, locating jigs, check tools, prototypes, handheld tools, and protective covers.
- 2021-2022 - Start Realizing True Value: In late 2021, AGCO wanted to start realizing the true value of this powerful tool. Ben's team focused on two areas: 1. Solving problems for continuous improvement in the manufacturing area. 2. Cost-effective and rapid prototyping. At 1.5 years into a robust deployment of additive manufacturing, they needed more durable parts (beyond FDM), more geometric complexity, and more capacity. So they started researching technology options based on a customized scorecard.
- 2022-23 - Industrial Grade Deployment: In 2023, Ben began benchmarking the powder bed fusion technologies on the market. With an eventual goal of printing end-use parts, he also included finishing technologies in his research. As a result, AGCO invested in HP's Multi Jet Fusion and AMT's Powerfuse.
- 2023-24 - Laying a Foundation to Scale: Today, 18 months since installing industrial-grade 3D printing technology, AGCO has printed almost 12k parts. Their business implementation initiatives include manufacturing work centers in their SAP for routing parts, labor times calculated for all parts, a process for non-production parts in SAP, and published engineering guidelines. Operational improvements include TPM calendars for preventive maintenance, a SharePoint site for collecting and archiving 3D printed projects, and workshops to educate and train engineers and shop floor staff.
AGCO's Application Examples
As AGCO's journey progressed, the applications for additive manufacturing continued to evolve. They started with manufacturing tools and then moved to replacement parts, paint masking, prototypes, and finally, end-use parts.
Ben's Final Conclusions From AGCO's Journey
In conclusion, there is still much to learn and improve in AGCO's 3D printing journey. Some lessons so far:
- Learning takes time and focus. In the beginning, have a resource dedicated to the process. Some companies try 3D printing thinking they can buy the equipment, then magic things will happen and they'll save all kinds of money. The thinking needs to be more like - we just bought this new piece of equipment, and just like any other new equipment, there are nuances to it we must learn. Dedicating resources to that learning process is essential.
- Don’t be afraid to experiment. You’re going to succeed and you’re going to fail. Sometimes in the failures, you’ll learn unexpected things that may be useful in future applications.
- Engaging the workforce and improving culture with 3D printing is possible, especially in terms of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. The AGCO team members regularly offer ideas about making things easier, safer, higher quality, and more cost-effective. Many brains are better than one!
- Go ahead and start cheap and start small. Value will scale with your capabilities as long as you continue to put in the effort!
Special thanks to
Kevin Carr
and
MasterGraphics
for connecting us with your client, AGCO, attending our event, and contributing your expertise to our discussion.
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Gestão de Projetos | Indústria 4.0 | Engenharia de Processos
1moAwesome! Ben Thul