Ford helps Sharrow Marine scale boat propeller manufacturing, reducing lead times from months to weeks

Ford Motor Company has partnered with Sharrow Marine to scale production of the company's patented MX-1 boat propellers, transitioning the manufacturing process from a slow, labor-intensive method to a semi-automated workflow that cuts lead times from months to weeks. The collaboration, announced in April 2026, leverages Ford's advanced manufacturing expertise and additive manufacturing capabilities at its Advanced Manufacturing Center in Redford, Michigan. Sharrow Marine's MX-1 propeller, previously produced using a combination of CNC machining and manual finishing, will now incorporate Ford's large-format binder jetting and robotic finishing systems. Greg Sharrow, founder and CEO of Sharrow Marine, stated that the partnership allows the company to meet growing demand from recreational boating and defense customers without sacrificing the propeller's noise-reduction and fuel-efficiency performance.

This partnership is a clear example of the industrial-tooling and cross-process pattern where a large OEM's internal AM expertise is applied to a niche manufacturer's production bottleneck. Sharrow Marine's MX-1 propeller is a high-value, low-volume product that benefits from binder jetting's ability to produce complex internal geometries — in this case, the proprietary blade twist and hub design that reduce cavitation and noise. The move mirrors how automotive OEMs like Ford have used AM for tooling and jigs, but here the technology is applied directly to an end-use marine component. The shift from months-long CNC and manual finishing to weeks-long binder jetting plus robotic finishing represents a meaningful reduction in working capital and inventory risk for Sharrow. It also signals that Ford's AM center is evolving from a prototyping and tooling facility into a production-scale partner for external companies, a trend that could pull more marine and industrial-tooling customers into AM adoption.

From a practical standpoint, this partnership validates binder jetting as a viable production method for marine propellers — a segment traditionally dominated by investment casting and five-axis CNC machining. Sharrow Marine must now demonstrate that the binder-jetted propellers meet the same fatigue and corrosion standards as their machined predecessors, particularly for saltwater use. For Ford, the deal is a low-risk way to monetize its AM infrastructure without building a standalone service bureau brand. The real test will be whether Sharrow can sustain the quality and throughput as volumes scale beyond the current defense and recreational orders.