Increased production line efficiency through
immediate additively manufactured fixture replacements
Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq:SSYS), a global leader in applied
additive technology solutions, today announced that German
industrial parts manufacturer, Kratzer GmbH & Co. KG, has
significantly enhanced workflow efficiencies by additively
manufacturing fixtures for its assembly lines. Thanks to the
installation of a Stratasys Fortus 450mc Production 3D Printer, the
company has reduced fixture production time from a few days to just
a few hours, delivering time savings of up to 90% compared to
traditional methods.
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With their in-house Stratasys Fortus
450mc Production 3D Printer, Christian Maier and his team can now
produce fixtures for their production line in hours, as opposed to
days using traditional methods. (Photo: Business Wire)
The integration of Stratasys additive manufacturing has allowed
the company to produce highly complex, customized assembly line
fixtures quickly and with complete design flexibility, replacing
milled fixtures in Kratzer’s laser and measurement machines.
“Since the installation of our new Fortus 450mc 3D Printer, we
can have the fixture ready the next day, which results in time
savings of up to 90%,” says Christian Maier, Division Manager
Fixture Construction and Training Supervisor, Kratzer.
Specializing in the production of customized and on-demand
turned, milled, honed and grinded parts, Kratzer uses its fixtures
as part of the process to create highly complex production parts
that span implants for the dental market to brake housings for the
automotive and aerospace sectors. Catering to such different
industries and applications, the ability to design fit-for-purpose
fixtures in short lead times is crucial.
Using its Stratasys Fortus 450mc Production 3D Printer, Kratzer
is able to produce durable fixtures in the most complex geometries,
without compromising quality. While printing most parts out of
Polycarbonate and ABS, ULTEM material has also proved to be
invaluable for certain production requirements – in particular for
parts requiring resistance to extreme temperatures or chemical
solutions.
“We have traditionally manufactured parts, which over time
naturally start to crack and break,” Maier explains. “Previously,
we had to wait for the team to manufacture another fixture, which
delayed the production process by several days. Now, we have the
file, we can have the fixture in just a few hours. This
dramatically enhances our production flow.”
The ability to customize fixtures for specific parts with the
Fortus 450mc Production 3D Printer is especially important to the
company’s business and delivers increased flexibility by allowing
them to process and complete customer jobs faster. The laser
devices in Kratzer’s production line is just one area to have
benefited from additive manufactured fixtures.
“Very often, our customers require parts that need a serial
number, logo or writing applied to them, which is undertaken by our
laser machines,” Maier says. “Prior to having our Fortus 450mc, we
had to put each part separately into the laser device, or mill
customized fixtures for every job to hold several parts. Obviously,
this was extremely tedious and time-consuming, but with additive
manufacturing, we can create holding fixtures to laser 30 parts
simultaneously, saving us an incredible amount of time and
labor.”
In addition to making the production line workflow more
efficient, the Stratasys 3D Printer has elevated the level of
in-house training. For Maier, the Fortus 450mc Production 3D
Printer has had an even more profound impact: “This technology has
enabled a fundamental new way of additive thinking and to apply
additive across the design process,” he concludes.
Andy Middleton, President EMEA, Stratasys, comments: “Cases like
Kratzer show the tremendous impact that additive manufacturing can
have on overall production line efficiency. The significant time
and cost savings, as well as the added flexibility and design
freedom achievable, offer companies the opportunity to increase
competitiveness and enable their engineers to adopt an additive
mindset.”
About Stratasys
Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) is a global leader in applied additive
technology solutions for industries including Aerospace,
Automotive, Healthcare, Consumer Products and Education. For nearly
30 years, a deep and ongoing focus on customers’ business
requirements has fueled purposeful innovations—1,200 granted and
pending additive technology patents to date—that create new value
across product lifecycle processes, from design prototypes to
manufacturing tools and final production parts. The Stratasys 3D
printing ecosystem of solutions and expertise—advanced materials;
software with voxel level control; precise, repeatable and reliable
FDM and PolyJet 3D printers; application-based expert services;
on-demand parts and industry-defining partnerships—works to ensure
seamless integration into each customer’s evolving
workflow. Fulfilling the real-world potential of additive,
Stratasys delivers breakthrough industry-specific applications that
accelerate business processes, optimize value chains and drive
business performance improvements for thousands of future-ready
leaders around the world.
Corporate Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota and Rehovot,
Israel.
Online at: www.stratasys.com,
http://blog.stratasys.com and LinkedIn.
Stratasys is a registered trademark and Fortus and Stratasys
signet are trademarks or registered trademarks of Stratasys Ltd.
and or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All other trademarks belong
to their respective owners.
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