Nissan uses robotic forming and 3D printing to expand heritage parts range

Nissan has announced it will utilise new technologies to bring to the Japan market additional parts in its NISMO Heritage Parts program, a series of genuine repair and replacement parts for discontinued vehicles.

The new technologies include dual-sided dieless forming for body panels and 3D printing for resin parts.

Nissan unveiled dual-sided dieless forming technology in 2019 as a method to produce body panels in low volumes. The method enables the moulding of complex shapes through the use of robots pressing rod-shaped moulding tools onto opposite sides of a steel sheet to incrementally deform and mould a panel.

With this production method, Nissan plans to produce rear panels for the R32 Skyline GT-R.

Nissan created prototypes while incorporating the sheet metal know-how of skilled workers and used dual-sided dieless forming and non-lubricated processing with mirrored diamond-coated tools as a base. By working closely with its suppliers, Nissan says it has achieved the high quality required for automobile parts.

The 3D printing technology was jointly developed with Solize Corporation to produce a protector made of resin for the harness in the R32 Skyline GT-R. With the harness body supplier’s cooperation, Nissan redesigned the parts and conducted performance tests that adapt to 3D printers, enabling a shorter time to commercialise high-standard parts.

The NISMO Heritage Parts program, launched in December 2017, has expanded parts delivery from 80 to 300 parts. It is part of Nissan’s efforts to enable customers to continue to drive their Nissan performance cars for a longer period of time. NISMO Heritage Parts are produced in collaboration with suppliers by Nissan Motor, Nissan Motor Sports International and Autech Japan.

Nissan plans to continue to utilise technologies from the Nissan Research Center and its Production Engineering Research and Development Center to further expand the NISMO Heritage Parts program.