80 | FORBES ASIA DECEMBER 2017
printing. Until now, 3-D printing has been used mostly to
make prototypes. But the technology is changing fast, with
ever bigger machines now able to “grow” larger parts from a
variety of advanced materials, including metal powder.
Sales of advanced 3-D printers, which are being used to
make engines for SpaceX rockets and giant wind turbines
for GE, are soaring. Ford Motor may not 3-D print F-150s
any time soon, but it is using the technology to make facto-
ry equipment. HP predicts the technology will usher in a “dis-
tributed manufacturing” future in which companies build what
they need, when they need it and where they need it, says Tim
Weber, an executive at the company’s 3-D printing unit. “Imag-
ine you are on a marketplace like Amazon,” Weber says. “You
order a car. Maybe it was designed in Lithuania, but it’s built
in your hometown and delivered a few days later. That’s the di-
rection it’s going—maybe not immediately, but the fourth in-
dustrial revolution is exactly that.” Costa Samaras, an assistant
professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie
Mellon University, says industrial 3-D printing “will disrupt a
lot of existing supply chains.”
Czinger’s version of that disruption relies on using com-
plex 3-D-printed metal joints as the “connective tissue” that
attaches to the carbon- fiber structure, or “bones,” of a car’s
chassis using a high-strength adhesive, rather than being
welded. The result is a strong, lightweight underbody that
costs a fraction of one built using traditional stamping meth-
ods. In lieu of a paint job, cars get colored vinyl wraps that are
durable and scratch-resistant. Because cars made this way will
be lighter, they will also require less fuel.
Groupe PSA embraced Divergent 3D in order to accelerate
its manufacturing efficiency, part of a broader turnaround ef-
fort under chairman Carlos Tavares. In a six-month study for
PSA in 2016, engineers determined that using Divergent 3D’s
tech to develop a popular SUV would have had a dramatic up-
side: Development time would be reduced by a year, vehicle
weight would be trimmed in half, 75% fewer parts would be
required, and there would be more flexibility to make chang-
es on the fly. “This has the potential to dramatically scale down
the size and scope of our manufacturing footprint, reduce
overall vehicle weight and build complexity, while also giv-
ing us almost limitless flexibility in design output,” Tavares said
after signing the deal with Czinger last year. “We are talking
about a radical change for our industry.”
In all, Divergent 3D has devel-
opment deals with about “half a
dozen” companies, Czinger says.
If Alphabet’s Waymo or Apple one
day opts to build its own autono-
mous vehicles, the Divergent 3D
system could make that happen,
he says. “My focus is to do this
globally,” Czinger adds.
As industrial disruptors go, Cz-
inger is a curious candidate with
an eclectic background. His foot-
ball talents helped get him to
Yale, where he was named Ivy
League Player of the Year in 1980.
After earning undergraduate and
law degrees there, he worked as
a federal prosecutor in the late
1980s (under U.S. attorney Rudy
Giuliani) and as a Goldman Sachs
banker in the early 1990s. He later
had stints at Web van, where he
was chief financial officer, and at
another investment firm.
Divergent 3D isn’t Czinger’s first attempt at auto industry
disruption. In 2008 he cofounded Coda Automotive, which
hoped to kick-start electric-vehicle sales with a ho-hum Chi-
nese-made sedan. Timing wasn’t on his side. Just as Coda was
ramping up deliveries, Tesla released the elegant Model S that
redefined the EV market.
Coda flopped, but Czinger’s odds with Divergent 3D may
be better. He’s not trying to compete head-to-head with Tesla
or anyone else by making cars. Instead, his business model
relies on licensing Divergent 3D’s technology to manufactur-
ers. His timing could be right this time. As pressure for sus-
tainability increases and private car ownership gives way to
transportation as a service, especially in crowded cities, 3-D
printing offers an efficient way for automakers to locally pro-
duce clean, inexpensive cars for shared urban fleets.
“We can do it at the right economics with much greater
flexibility,” Czinger says. A car for Los Angeles may look
very different from a car for Paris or Shanghai. “This is
what it comes down to,” Czinger says. “The resilience of the
environment, the resilience of the economy depends on
diversity.”The prototype Dagger was built using Divergent 3D’s patented 3-D printing techniques.
ETHAN PINES FOR FORBESFUTURE OF MANUFACTURINGFTECHNOLOGY