Increased production line efficiency through immediate additively manufactured fixture replacements

MINNEAPOLIS & REHOVOT, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- 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.

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 Kratzers 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 companys business and delivers increased flexibility by allowing them to process and complete customer jobs faster. The laser devices in Kratzers 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 customers 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.