Company overcomes design, cost, and time constraints to develop asset tracking solution in 60 Days

Essentium, Inc., a worldwide leader in industrial additive manufacturing (AM), today announced that Additive at Scale, an advanced manufacturing services provider, used the Essentium High Speed Extrusion (HSE™) 180 ST 3D Printing Platform and Essentium PCTG-Z to design and manufacture 100 pilot units for an asset tracking solution for a multinational chemical company. The company used Essentium's 3D Printing technology to overcome design, cost, and time constraints, delivering the asset tracking solution for fleet management and monitoring of 18-wheeler chassis that transport chemicals in just 60 days.

Additive at Scale partnered with Blues Wireless to create an asset tracking solution that offers GPS capabilities and an onboard accelerometer while allowing the end-user to input data to the cloud without Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity. However, the challenge was quickly developing electronic enclosures to mount the solution to the chassis. The enclosures require a specific form factor, custom PCB mounts, and a rugged design for outdoor installations - all of which can be costly and time-consuming when using traditional production methods.

To overcome the challenges, Additive at Scale designed an electronic enclosure with an O-ring groove and seal, threaded inserts, and custom PCB mounts. It printed 100 units for its pilot phase with an Essentium HSE 180 ST 3D Printer. The Additive at Scale team chose to use Essentium PCTG-Z for its electrostatic discharge (ESD)-safe properties, impact strength, chemical resistance, and low cost.

"Having Essentium as a strategic partner has allowed us to tap into the expertise of their material scientists and application engineers to help select the right material and process settings to meet our client's needs," explained Madison Jones, Director of Additive at Scale. "They also offer the best ESD-safe materials on the market, which in most cases, is ideal for electronic enclosures or assembly of electronics."

With Essentium's technology along with its material scientists, service and support team, and training support, Additive at Scale was able to complete the pilot phase quickly and efficiently. Due to the project's success, Additive at Scale has been given official vendor status and is in the process of scaling-up production.

About Essentium
Essentium, Inc. provides industrial 3D printing solutions that are disrupting traditional manufacturing processes by bringing product strength and production speed together, at scale, with a no-compromise engineering material set. Essentium manufactures and delivers innovative industrial 3D printers and materials, enabling the world's top manufacturers to bridge the gap between 3D printing and machining and embrace the future of additive manufacturing. Essentium, Inc. is ISO 9001:2015 and ITAR certified.