The task of creating a new automobile, even one that uses a platform common to more than one car, is still a difficult task, and one of the main reasons why few attempt to start from scratch, and even fewer succeed. It eats up massive amounts of resources of all kinds, as well as time, especially in the later stages of the project, when prototype parts are required.
These parts, which have not had big hydraulic machines set up to mass produce them yet, take a lot of time to be built, in the order of months sometimes.
Now Ford has stepped in with a new technology called Ford Freeform Fabrication Technology, or F3T for short. It cuts the cost associated with prototype parts, is fully flexible and adaptable, while also dramatically reducing the waiting time for the desired parts.
It’s all very technical, and we get the feeling that Ford is deliberately leaving out how the system actually works. Also, it won’t have immediate implications and applications, but the first ones will be the creation of prototype parts (just a CAD file is required, and minimal user input) as well as low-volume parts for certain specialist vehicles which simply cannot wait.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO