DLA’s product test center boosts readiness with 3D printing

The Defense Logistics Agency’s Product Test Center in Columbus says it has slashed time and cost in testing military parts after adding industrial 3D printing and laser scanning to its workflow, with a second phase of equipment upgrades set to arrive through 2027.

“The addition of our first 3D printer in September 2024 has greatly enhanced our capability to test and deliver verified parts to the warfighter,” said Kedric Jones, an electronics engineer for the DLA Electronics PTC lab.

The PTC’s electronics and mechanical labs clear about 3,000 items annually on a tight, 30‑day test cycle, work leaders say directly supports military readiness by ensuring components function as intended. “We are the gatekeeper for quality assurance for the military’s bench stock,” Supervisory Electronics Engineer Jeremiah Jones said.

Custom test fixtures are central to that mission, and they were a chronic bottleneck when made via traditional machining. “Before the introduction of additive manufacturing, the process of creating one staff-designed fixture could take from several weeks to months,” said electronics engineer Kendall Callahan.

DLA installed a Stratasys Fortus 450mc fused-deposition 3D printer and a metrology-grade laser scanner to speed the job. “A fixture can be made in as little as six hours of print time for something that took about an hour to design,” Kedric Jones said. “And the best part is that it does not subtract from our staff-hours anymore, freeing us up to work on other projects while the machine is printing.”

Backed by DLA Research & Development’s Tools for Testing initiative, the center’s modernization is already paying off, according to the program’s director. “We are always looking for opportunities to make a difference through innovation,” DLA R&D Director David Koch said. “They are now able to make up to 10 of these fixtures for the price of making just one if it were still being traditionally manufactured using subtractive processes,” he added, noting the on-demand approach has cut lead times for verified parts.

Engineers say the new capability also expands what they can build. “With this technology, we can create complex geometries within a day or two that would have been difficult to make with traditional manufacturing methods,” Callahan said. “In the past, we were mostly working in aluminum and acrylic, but now we are creating fixtures in heavy-duty thermoplastics with properties that can withstand the rigors of the types of testing we do here,” she remarked. The lab now regularly uses materials such as ASA, ABS, PEI and ABS-ESD7.

Phase two of Tools for Testing will broaden capacity across both labs. “The mechanical lab will be getting a metal 3D printer, a smaller 3D printer to create prototypes, a CT scanner and the means to get an older Stratasys it received from DLA Disposition Services operational,” Jeremiah Jones said. “And the electronics lab will be getting an automated benchtop 3D scanner and much needed maintenance on its Stratasys Fortus 450mc.” He added, “Both labs will get a smaller 3D printer to create prototypes.” The upgrades are slated to be in place by March 2027.

Engineers expect the new scanning and imaging tools to accelerate throughput while improving measurement accuracy. “Laser scanners save a lot of manual labor,” Kedric Jones said. “Instead of trying to take manual measurements, this capability lets us build a fixture around a scanned digital mock-up of the part additively.” On the CT front, “This device will allow us to see inside parts to get highly accurate measurements without having to destroy any coating the manufacturer applied, preserving the parts so that it can still go to the services when we’re done dimensioning it,” he said.

The metal 3D printer will expand fixture applications into higher-stress testing. “The metal printer’s powder bed fusion process will help us print fixtures for testing that we can’t currently do,” Jones explained. “For example, with a metal printer, we will be able to print fixtures for higher pressure testing and tensile loads. And it will allow for simultaneous printing.”

DLA has a formal role in advancing additive manufacturing across the Defense Department, including creation and management of the Joint Additive Manufacturing Model Exchange, a shared repository of digital designs referenced in DOD Instruction 5000.93. The agency’s push comes as the services scale their own efforts, from the Navy’s integration of printed parts into the supply system, to the Army’s large-format metal printing, to the Air Force’s use of AM for depot sustainment.

As field units print more parts at the edge, the test center plans to keep pace. “Warfighters are printing out in the field more and more,” Kedric Jones said. “And as they continue to innovate and expand their additive manufacturing capabilities, we need to possess knowledge of the different techniques and equipment they are using to properly test items and provide the correct technical data packages needed to produce these items additively.”