- Rapid and cost-effective manufacture of
complex tools with Stratasys additive manufacturing enables company
to take on low volume production jobs for customers
- Using Stratasys Fortus 450mc Production
3D Printer, tools are produced 66% faster, 75% lighter and at 50%
of cost compared to traditional manufacturing methods
Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq:SSYS), a global leader in applied
additive technology solutions, today announced that Spanish
aerospace and engineering company, Indaero, has secured new
business with several Tier 1 and Tier 2 Airbus suppliers following
the use of Stratasys FDM 3D printing for the production of complex
tools.
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the full release here:
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3D printed manufacturing tool produced
using Stratasys' Fortus 450mc 3D Printer in ULTEM 9085 material,
enabling Indaero to produce complex shapes that perfectly fit the
curvature of aircraft panels -- not possible using traditional
aluminum tools. (Photo: Business Wire)
Spanish aerospace engineering and production specialist,
Indaero, manufactures aircraft panels for key customers such as
Airbus and its suppliers, offering a comprehensive range of
services including design, engineering, tooling, welding and
painting. With much of the competition limited to only a few
services, the company invested in a Stratasys Fortus 450mc
Production 3D Printer. The move has enabled Indaero to extend its
offering into lightweight, complex tools that cannot be produced
with traditional manufacturing, further differentiating itself as
an end-to-end design to production service.
“Aerospace is unlike other industries, producing high volumes of
tools,” explains Darío González Fernández, CEO of Indaero. “To
traditionally manufacture production tools, injection molding or
CNC machining would be used, but this would be very time-consuming
and costly. With our Fortus 450mc 3D Printer, we can service
low-volume production quickly and cost-effectively, producing many
different tools on-demand to accelerate the manufacturing process
and ensure we meet customer delivery deadlines.
“The importance of the ULTEM 9085 material cannot be understated
either,” he continues. “It has become an integral part of our
production process, as it is certified for aerospace and well known
by our customer Airbus for a number of aircraft applications. With
its unique combination of high strength-to-weight ratio and FST
(flame, smoke, and toxicity) certification, we can 3D print robust,
lightweight tools and respond to short run production of flying
parts if required – giving us a unique advantage versus
competition.”
Complex ‘curved’ 3D printed tooling leads to increased
business
The Fortus 450mc 3D Printer is used by Indaero to manufacture
several production tools. Crucial to achieving this is the ability
to quickly design and produce complex curved geometries that
perfectly fit the intricate shapes of the aircraft panels.
Previously, the company was limited to producing flat shapes with
traditional methods, which affected the performance of the final
tool during affixation to the panel by workers.
“The 3D printer has been a game-changer for us,” says González.
“The ability to 3D print curved production tools in robust
materials made us realize the importance of having tools that
perfectly fit the panels. Not only does it make the work of our
operators much easier, it frees up resources and increases our
overall productivity. This improvement was immediately recognized
by a number of leading Airbus providers such as Aernnova, who
previously worked with our competitors and whose business we have
subsequently secured.”
This is being exemplified through the company‘s work for
Aernnova where the Fortus 450mc 3D Printer is being used to
optimize a series of production tools for the manufacture of an
Airbus NH90 Helicopter. In particular, a 3D printed manufacturing
tool to fix a slide box onto the interior panel of the helicopter
wing. Traditionally, an aluminum tool weighed twelve kilos and
required two operators to hold it against the panel while marking
the drill holes. With the complex geometries achievable with 3D
printing, the team redesigned the tool with a curvature perfectly
fitting the panel structure. As a result, Indaero provided Aernnova
with a new, more effective tool, nine kilos lighter than its
predecessor and capable of standing on its own.
“Integrating FDM 3D printing within production tooling for this
project is delivering several clear benefits,” explains González.
“Firstly, from a resource perspective there’s now no need for two
operators as the tool fits against the panel independently –
leaving one operator to position the slide box with both free
hands. Secondly, we can produce a lightweight and robust tool 66%
faster than with CNC machining. As a result, this part of the
project is being completed ahead of time, leading to a reduction in
manufacturing cost of over 50%. The customer response has been
fantastic.”
Andy Middleton, President EMEA, Stratasys, concludes: “FDM has
long been an additive technology of choice for the aerospace
industry, particularly for customized tooling applications.
Companies such as Indaero are leveraging high-performance
materials, such as ULTEM 9085, to produce lighter weight, better
performing tools on the production floor in less time and cost.
It’s no surprise that these future-ready companies are improving
business performance as a result.”
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
http://www.linkedin.com/company/stratasys
Stratasys is a registered trademark and Fortus and the Stratasys
signet is a trademark of Stratasys Ltd. and/or its subsidiaries or
affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
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