Maximizing Production Efficiency with 3D Printing
By using 3D printed tools, jigs, and fixtures, Volkswagen Autoeuropa reduces cycle time operation, labor, and the need for reworking, while improving tool ergonomics. Furthermore, they achieve this at a tenth of the usual cost. The company estimates that they saved over $400,000 in 2017 while achieving a 91% cost reduction and 95% time savings.
Before incorporating 3D printing technology, Volkswagen spent an average of $980 per part. Now, it's costing them an average of $26 per part. And because they no longer have to work with external suppliers, the average project duration for developing a new part went from 56 days to 10 days.
Read the full case study here.
3D Printing Final Parts for High-Value Snow Machines
Snow Business uses their Ultimaker 3D printers for prototyping, functional testing, and creating final parts for their snow machines. In-house 3D printing significantly speeds up their iterative design process and yields considerable cost savings along the way.
Each design iteration used to cost an average of $153 and took an average of 7 days. Using Ultimaker 3D printers, each iteration now averages $3 and takes an average of only 7 hours.
Read the full case study here.
