3D Printing in Process Automation

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The Challenge
Custom automation processes, while incredibly useful if implemented properly, often require difficult-to-fabricate custom parts.

The Solution
3D printers afford design complexity for you to design unique tools, while providing the low costs required to iterate on optimized designs.

The Impact
Printed parts allow you to iterate on, speed up, and improve the reliability of your processes without compromising production bandwidth.

Process automation tooling can be the difference between a functional-but-inefficient process and one that’s optimized for its purpose. Good process automation tooling set-ups targets the least efficient, least automated, and least accurate steps of your process and transforms them into strengths. They come in the form of part collectors, part stock manipulators, sensor mounts, guides, and many other things. Due to their unique shapes, wide variety, and lack of critical importance to a successful run, process automation tools are often not prioritized.

High strength 3D printing allows you to quickly design, test, and implement process automation tools for low cost. Markforged materials are uniquely suited for manufacturing environments: carbon fiber filled nylon base material resists cutting fluids and other manufacturing chemicals, while continuous fiber reinforcement gives parts the strength, stiffness, and durability to endure indefinite cycles. Manufacturing engineers thrive in situations where they can add value through incremental improvements—giving them a Markforged printer will allow them to improve more processes at a faster rate.