15 Jun Publication: Fabricating Change Through Additive Manufacturing

Syncrude shared a case study through GMG on how they used additive manufacturing, essentially 3D printing, to address challenges on site and to manufacture pieces directly on site. With these processes noted in this case study, they were able to manufacture:

• Coker feed nozzles
• Disc centrifuge components
• Bowl body
• Feed pipe

The benefits that Syncrude found through additive manufacturing included:

• Manufacture some parts in ~2-3 weeks (eliminating 3+ months wait times for critical parts).
• Build obsolete or one-off parts (reducing capital replacements).
• Replace some warehouse inventory with “built-on-demand” inventory (reducing local inventory and associated logistics/costs).
• Realize process performance benefits by leveraging AM designs.

Read it here.