Manufacturing

Vollmer of America, a leader in precision grinding and erosion machines, has transformed its operations by integrating additive manufacturing technology using BCN3D Epsilon printers. This has allowed the Pittsburgh-based company to swiftly create custom tools and prototypes, effectively addressing challenges such as developing specialized tools for service engineers and designing protective holders for expensive grinding wheels in smart cabinets.

We visited industry-leading manufacturer Saint-Gobain in its facilities in L’Arboç, Barcelona. Since 2019, the incorporation of 3D printing across its shop floor has saved the company around 170.000€ and reduced lead times of its tooling by 93%. The 3D printed parts take the shape of tools, jigs, and fixtures and perform applications for anything from positioning to quality control.

Outdoor equipment manufacturer TwoNav is experiencing a more flexible, iterative design process, a quicker time to market, and a reduction in expenses since incorporating 3D printing. The company is not only using BCN3D’s technology for designing, prototyping, and end-use parts, but also for tooling in and around their production line.

German 3D printing platform Replique and BASF Forward AM’s material experts are working together to create parts for home appliances manufacturer Miele, using a food safe 3D printing process for parts in contact with consumable goods. IDEX technology ensured a fast-tracked, profitable process for this low volume batch production.

Automotive giant Nissan is relying on a small farm of BCN3D printers in its Barcelona factory to fabricate 700 tools, jigs, and fixtures in its car assembly lines so far. We developed a digital library for you to see the specifications of each part. On a tour of their facilities, Trim & Chassis Manufacturing Kaizen Engineer Enric Ridao and Manager of Maintenance & Engineering Facilities Carlos Rellán told us all about their immense savings in time and costs: reducing one week to one day, and costs to 20 times less.

With the implementation of a small print farm of BCN3D printers and Smart Cabinets, the CIM UPC has accomplished a radical transformation of the way they produce end-use applications. Experts in the field of additive manufacturing technologies, the CIM UPC team have found the Epsilon series printers with Smart Cabinet to be the most valuable solution for both low-volume batch production and big parts.

For Tecalum Industrial, implementing 3D printing into their day-to-day activities resulted in a great return on investment. Not only they significantly reduced the cost of producing customized tooling, jigs, and fixtures but they also save a remarkable amount of time by fabricating these parts in-house.

Dlimit has revolutionized its workflow since incorporating 3D printing to fabricate 100% functional customized tooling, which enables them to maximize efficiency, reducing a significant amount of time and costs in their production process of queue management systems.

BORN Motor customizes high-quality deconstructed motorcycles and is using 3D printing for manufacturing final parts instead of traditional processes, saving €2,000 for each motorcycle modified.

BCN3D has proven that additive manufacturing is the most cost-effective solution for producing low volume batches, including 47 3D printed plastic pieces in each manufactured 3D printer.