Before and After 3D Printing : Comparison
14% of Previous Cost
Only 6 months for ROI
Problem
Saint-Gobain is a manufacturer and distributor of bespoke materials and solutions for various applications across many industries. From its HQ in Massachusetts, Saint-Gobain currently provides for the development within 100 regional plants; supporting their operations through new and optimised technologies.
Saint-Gobain need to be incredibly responsive in their workflow. When a customer requests a new bespoke solution, the method through which Saint-Gobain supplies the solution must be both efficient and accurate, ensuring that lead times are as short as possible. However, Saint-Gobain found that even simple requests by their customers were leading to the fabrication of many parts and a cost of 12,000 hours.
Solution
Through the utilisation of their Markforged X7, which is able to print parts 1.4x stronger than traditional ABS, the team saw their lead times and costs reduce dramatically; without them having to sacrifice on the quality of their parts. Instead of having to produce $47,000 worth of parts in 1,200 hours, Saint-Gobain are now able to print those 400 parts in a fraction of the time and cost; saving approximately 90 days of lead time. For the future, Saint-Gobain looks to involve Markforged printers in more of their plants around America, seeing them as the solution to previous issues in lead times and cost.
