Ford Motor Company Now Casting Sharrow Propellers for Rapid Delivery
It was announced today that Sharrow Engineering and the Ford Motor Company are working together to manufacturer Sharrow’s revolutionary propellers. Over the past nine months, Ford’s engineers have used its company’s cutting-edge 3D-printed sand-casting process to drastically reduce the time to produce the complex Sharrow Props, which now enables high-volume production and helps Sharrow meet growing consumer demand for its revolutionary propeller.
Ford Motor Company’s Advanced Industrial Technology & Platforms (ATP) team, using advanced sand-casting techniques, has shortening what used to take as much as 130 days with traditional investment casting, to approximately two weeks. At the same time, the precision required for Sharrow’s designs is maintained, according to the company.
“We have been in production for some time with Ford,” said CEO Greg Sharrow, “and now we’re perfectly positioned to meet this spring’s high demand for our props.”
“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,” said Greg Sharrow, Founder and CEO of Sharrow Engineering and Sharrow Marine.
“That’s one of the reasons we came to Detroit — to tap into a level of manufacturing capability and ecosystem we couldn’t find anywhere else, including the network at Michigan Central. This collaboration with Ford Motor Company has solved that problem for us in a big way. That’s game-changing. It’s a powerful example of what can happen when companies like Ford help bring breakthrough technologies to industrial scale.”
Ford's Advanced Casing Process
As part of the effort, Ford helped develop and refine the mold manufacturing process while working closely with experienced regional foundries to bring the new casting approach online. By combining Ford’s expertise in advanced manufacturing processes with the deep metallurgical and pouring experience of local foundry partners, the collaboration has accelerated the path toward scalable production of the Sharrow Propeller.
“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,” says 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."
Detroit's New Industrial Collaboration
The Ford/Sharrow industrial collaboration was facilitated by Michigan Central, Detroit’s hub for mobility innovation, which brings together startups, industry leaders, and other partners to help advance next-generation technologies. “Michigan Central was built to bring together the people, infrastructure, and expertise needed to help companies move from breakthrough ideas to real-world scale. Sharrow is exactly the kind of company we’re here to support — an innovator with proven technology and growing demand,” said Carolina Pluszczynski, acting CEO of Michigan Central.
“It is incredible to see how Sharrow has scaled since joining our ecosystem. They have leveraged the prototyping labs here, found talent to grow their team, and expanded their footprint. And now, by connecting them with the Ford advanced manufacturing team, Sharrow has drastically accelerated its production processes, turning innovation into tangible impact,” she said.
The Sharrow Design Has Many Applications
Since its launch in 2020, the Sharrow™ Propeller has seen rapidly growing demand from recreational boaters, commercial operators, and government agencies seeking improvements in efficiency, noise reduction, and performance. The breakthrough design has also attracted interest beyond marine propulsion, with potential applications across mobility, defense, and energy systems. The same core technology behind the Sharrow Propeller has applications across drones, advanced air mobility, industrial fans, pumps, and renewable energy systems.
The collaboration also marks a broader step forward for Sharrow as the company expands beyond marine propulsion into new categories of mobility and energy efficiency. With rapid prototyping at Michigan Central and Newlab Detroit, and Ford’s manufacturing expertise helping scale production, Sharrow now has a clear pathway to move new propulsion technologies from concept to industrial production faster than ever before.