Sandia cuts part lead time from 6 months to 1 week with 3D printing

Sandia National Laboratories reported early results from its CAMINO advanced manufacturing center, opened in February 2026: additive manufacturing delivered parts to an internal team in one week versus four to six months of machining. A 3D-printed TPU surrogate for a hard-to-machine insulation material now takes 12 hours instead of 12 weeks.

• CAMINO opened February 12, 2026 under NNSA, Sandia and KCNSC
• Parts needing 4–6 months of machining were printed in one week
• TPU insulation surrogate printed in 12 hours instead of 12 weeks
• UT Austin course on advanced manufacturing for national security planned