Sharrow Engineering is scaling production of its patented Sharrow Propeller through a collaboration with Ford Motor Company’s Advanced Industrial Technology & Platforms (ATP) team.
Advanced 3D sand-casting techniques will be used as part of the scale-up.
The move will reduce production timelines, shortening what used to take as long as 130 days with traditional investment casting to approximately two weeks.
In 2025, Sharrow Engineering relocated its headquarters to Michigan Central – Detroit’s hub for mobility innovation, which facilitated the collaboration between Sharrow and Ford.
Over the past nine months, the teams have worked together to adapt Sharrow’s designs to a 3D-printed sand-casting process.
Ford has been at the leading edge of 3D sand-casting for more than 20 years.
Dan Michalski
The effort focused on refining and validating the casting process to enable high-volume production.
As part of the effort, Ford helped develop and refine the mold manufacturing process while working closely with regional foundries to bring the new casting approach online.
“Ford has been at the leading edge of 3D sand-casting for more than 20 years and it’s rewarding to use that expertise to help another Michigan company scale so quickly,” explained Dan Michalski, additive manufacturing operations supervisor, Ford.
“This is about more than just propellers – it’s about making industrial innovation available to customers like Sharrow so they can compete on a global stage.”
Interest beyond marine propulsion
Sharrow Propeller launched in 2020 and has since seen growing demand from across the marine sector.
The company says it has also attracted interest beyond marine propulsion, with potential applications across mobility, defense and energy systems.
As demand for the technology has expanded, scaling production to meet global interest has become the company’s primary focus.
Game-changing
“Since we introduced the Sharrow Propeller, the market response has been extraordinary, but scaling production has been our biggest challenge, particularly getting high-quality castings fast enough to meet demand,” explained Greg Sharrow, founder and CEO of Sharrow Engineering and Sharrow Marine.
“This collaboration with Ford Motor Company has solved that problem for us in a big way. What used to take an entire boating season to produce can now be made in just a few weeks. That’s game-changing.”
This latest advancement builds on Sharrow’s investment in US-based manufacturing, including its fourth expansion in five years to a new 60,000sqft facility in Michigan.
