EDITOR’S CHOICE
3D PRINTERS
ZORTRAX S.A.
WHAT FDM 3D PRINTERS CAN DO FOR THE INDUSTRY
Did you know that 3D printers
could save you over €80,000 within
a 12 month period in a factory
making over 15 million electronic
parts per year? We’ve learned that
implementing our solutions at the
Bosch Mondeville plant in France
and working with other key players
within other industries ranging from
automotive to aerospace. In most
cases, the investment in Zortrax 3D
printers returned tenfold within a
few weeks and as you should know,
it takes the right tools and the right
people to achieve such a feat.
After talking to industry leaders and
plant managers we have identified
many key issues that could be solved
with 3D printing. Plastic grippers,
plugs, jigs, and fixtures are needed
in vast quantities to keep the
production line going.
At Bosch Mondeville plant they had
grippers for robotic arms costing
€400, with 3D printing this only cost
them €1.
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Custom made tools can be designed,
3D printed on the spot within
hours and the Zortrax M200 Plus
3D wireless 3D printer has been
constructed to deal with those
issues.
The Zortrax M200 Plus with
dedicated Z-SUITE software ticks all
those boxes. Making things work at
production level is not only about
technology…… it’s about people.
Engineers at large factories usually
have extensive experience with CNC
machining and 3D printing is often
not what they’re used to. That’s why
we provide personalized training,
advice, and support service. Our
teams begin w ith visiting the plant
to identify key challenges and offer
ideas on how to overcome them.
In a typical scenario, it takes under
a month to set up a 3D printing
farm and train the staff to operate it
efficiently. Once that’s done, Zortrax
M200 Plus 3D printers will start
doing their job and saving money.
To offer viable solutions we had to define what
makes a fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D
printer work in industrial applications.
• First, it had to keep the costs low. FDM is
still the most cost-efficient 3D printing
technology which comes in handy given the
parts in large factories which are needed in
large quantities.
• Second, it had to be reliable as it’s easy to
build a machine that can print a near perfect
part once, twice or even a few times. Being
able to make it print with consistent quality
for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for half
a year with almost no maintenance is an
entirely different story.
• Third, the printer had to be easy to use for
untrained staff.
• Fourth, we had to come up with a way to
efficiently manage tens or hundreds of
machines.
Krzysztof Cichocki
[email protected]
+48 735 206 727