According to a report by CNBC, Ford (www.corporate.ford.com) is leading a $65 million ‘venture investment’ in Desktop Metal, a ‘start up’ that wants to give “US manufacturing a boost with its 3-D metal printers”; they can produce finished parts in steel and aluminium, as well as many other alloys.

The company’s machines come in two sizes: a smaller one for use in confined spaces like design studios; and a larger one for use in factories.

Desktop Metal’s 3-D printers bind metal and ceramic powders into a soft polymer, that is extruded layer by layer to make an object that is subsequently sintered in a furnace, where the polymer burns off and the metal fuses together without losing its shape.

Ceramic layers keep metal parts from fusing wherever a designer wants pieces to stay separate (as with the hinges pictured). Desktop Metal CEO Ric Fulop says these 3-D printed parts are comparable to cast metal parts in terms of structural integrity.

Ford says that following this investment, its chief technology officer Ken Washington has joined Desktop Metal’s board of directors. Mr Fulop says that while Ford is not yet using Desktop Metal printers for vehicle production lines, the companies are working to make this a possibility.

Ford is not the only major manufacturer to invest in Desktop Metal; the company is also backed by GE, TTI and BMW (via its venture arm BMW i Ventures), along with a cadre of venture firms including NEA, Lux Capital and Alphabet’s venture arm GV. The new round brings Desktop Metal’s total funding to $277 million.