Nov 26, 2025
Nov 19, 2025
Sharrow Marine Partners with Ford Motor Co.
- BoatBlurb Contributor
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Sharrow Marine has announced a major scale-up of its patented Sharrow Propeller thanks to a unique collaboration with Ford Motor Company.
The partnership uses Ford’s Advanced Industrial Technology & Platforms (ATP) team and 3D-printed sand-casting processes developed within Detroit’s Michigan Central innovation ecosystem. The end result is a propeller that's built significantly faster than previous techniques, allowing Sharrow to reduce production times from as much as 130 days to as little as 14 days.
The partnership tested the process over over a nine-month development period where engineers from both companies adapted Sharrow’s loop-style propeller design to the new casting method. The end result allows the propellers to maintain their precision manufacturing while also enabling higher-volume production.
“Ford has been at the leading edge of 3D sand-casting for more than 20 years,” said Dan Michalski, additive manufacturing operations supervisor at Ford, in a press release. “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.”
The collaboration was facilitated by Michigan Central - Detroit's hub for developing new innovation in industry - which connects startups, manufacturers, and technology partners within Detroit’s business network.
“Michigan Central was built to bring together the people, infrastructure, and expertise needed to help companies move from breakthrough ideas to real-world scale,” said Carolina Pluszczynski, Acting CEO of Michigan Central. “By connecting them with the Ford advanced manufacturing team, Sharrow has drastically accelerated its production processes.”
For Sharrow, the scalability of their unique propeller design has been a challenge since the production's inception. “Since we introduced the Sharrow Propeller, the market response has been extraordinary, but scaling production has been our biggest challenge,” said Greg Sharrow, founder and CEO.
“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," added Sharrow. "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. It’s a powerful example of what can happen when companies like Ford help bring breakthrough technologies to industrial scale.”
The Sharrow Propeller was first introduced in 2020 and features a patented looped blade design. Since the launch, the propeller has gained significant market share and begun finding a home on transoms across recreational, commercial, and even government boats. According to Sharrow, the propeller's performance creates up to 30% better fuel efficiency and up to 80% noise reduction compared to conventional blade propellers.
Sharrow Engineering has also expanded its manufacturing footprint in Michigan, including a 60,000-square-foot facility in Harper Woods, as it works to meet increasing demand for its novel propeller technology.
You can get a glimpse of the Sharrow Propeller manufacturing process in the video below:
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