Toyota and Rivian Adopt Stratasys F870 for Factory-Floor 3D Printing

Two auto giants, one new printer

Stratasys launched the F870 large-format FDM system earlier this month, and two major automakers are already putting it to work. Toyota Production Engineering in Georgetown, Kentucky, and Rivian Automotive in Plymouth, Michigan, have both begun evaluating the F870 for factory-floor applications. Their focus is not on end-use car parts, but on the tooling and manufacturing aids that keep production lines moving.

Toyota's additive manufacturing engineer Dallas Martin put it plainly: the company has already seen value in Stratasys systems, and the next step is expanding into more applications. The F870's build volume, material performance, and industrial features align with the kinds of manufacturing needs Toyota wants to address.

What the F870 actually does on the line

The printer has a build volume of 1000 x 610 x 610 mm, or roughly 39.4 by 24 by 24 inches, inside a fully heated chamber. That is the longest build capacity in Stratasys's current FDM lineup. The material list includes Nylon 12CF carbon fiber, ASA, ABS, and a new FDM ABS Draft Gray material aimed at faster, lower-cost prototyping.

In automotive plants, the immediate uses are large fixtures, assembly tools, and inspection gauges. These parts traditionally require lengthy machining lead times, especially when a production line needs a custom jig or a one-off bracket. Printing them in-house cuts that wait from weeks to hours, and it lets engineers iterate on the design without rebooking machine shop time.

Why Stratasys is pushing the F870 now

Rich Garrity, Stratasys's Chief Business Unit Officer, framed the F870 as a response to a specific factory-floor problem: manufacturers need larger, production-ready systems that can produce tooling and end-use parts at the size, throughput, and reliability required for daily operations. The F870 is not a laboratory printer. It is built for environments where downtime costs money and materials need to perform under real conditions.

The Nylon 12CF carbon fiber option matters here. Carbon-fiber reinforced nylon delivers the stiffness and durability that factory tools need, especially when they are being clamped, dropped, or used repeatedly in environments with oils, temperature swings, and vibration. That is a different set of demands from a desktop printer making a hobbyist's bracket.

The bigger picture for additive manufacturing in auto

Stratasys has been steadily expanding its automotive footprint, and the GM partnership announced at IMTS 2026 put more than 20 North and South American plants into the fold. Toyota and Rivian represent a second wave of adoption: not just pilot programs, but production-floor integration. If these factories standardize on the F870 for tooling, the printer becomes infrastructure rather than an experiment.

For the 3D printing industry, the signal is clear. Large-format industrial FDM is moving from prototype room to production line, and the automakers leading that shift have the scale to make it stick.