3D printed tools for better ergonomics, speed and design complexity
Factory production lines know the right jig or fixture speeds production, which increases productivity. But that’s just
the beginning. Well-designed tools are more ergonomic, offering both increased worker safety and productivity, as
well as cost savings.
Traditional machining produces heavy, costly, multi-piece tools that become an even greater liability as repetitive
motion injuries erode line productivity with worker disability. Redesign means even more protracted timelines for
machined parts.
While essential to efficiency, accuracy and safety, jigs and fixtures are often considered a necessary evil in the overall
production process. Costly, protracted timelines for machined jigs and fixtures are the culprit here, especially for the
often complex designs necessary to meet unique part needs.
This, along with certain complex designs that simply cannot be manufactured using traditional methods are a reality
on the production floor. But there is a better way.
3D printed jigs and fixtures for the production floor can reduce
fabrication costs by 50-90%.
jigs and fixtures on the factory floor
BOOM Supersonic
Jigs and fixtures are heroes of
Supersonic jet’s production floor
BOOM’s mission is concise: to make the world
dramatically more accessible by creating an aircraft that’s
twice as fast as today’s commercial air fleet, which in
turn makes the world twice as small. But in an industry
where innovation fuels success, the importance of
tooling to support rapidly evolving designs can’t
be underestimated. “This is where the 3D printer
shines,” says Ryan Bocook, manufacturing engineer.
Speed is at the core of BOOM and having the ability to
reduce design time through rapid iteration of a part means
procurement lead time is reduced. According to Bocook,
With additive manufacturing, “we can design and build a custom tool in a matter of hours.”
BOOM recently built an alignment jig to help in their
Materials and Process lab when making test samples for
the XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator. “We have built drill
jigs complete with pockets for drill bushings and tooling
balls to locate parts in the aircraft very precisely.”
Cost savings are significant with additively manufactured
jigs and fixtures at BOOM. “I recently had a small part for an
assembly fixture quoted from two machine shops. Both came
in over $1K higher per part than what I could 3D print them
for,” said Bocook. “Not to mention lead time and shipping.”
Additively manufactured tooling is a mainstay at BOOM
Supersonic now, but the tools’ value goes beyond time and
cost savings. Design complexity not possible with traditional
machining means Boom’s only limitation is their imagination.
“If we can think it we can print and try it out,” says Bocook.
Advice from BOOM’s
Ryan Bocook:
1. Many shop floors limit the use of their
3D printers to a select few. “This is
counterproductive. Let your team
explore the possibilities. Give access
to the full shop. Give them a material
budget and time on the machine. I
bet they will be printing things that
will revolutionize your approach.”
2. Choose the right 3D printer. All the
benefits of 3D printing, including speed,
cost and iterations are lost if the 3D
printer is difficult to use or is constantly
requiring maintenance. “Our Stratasys
machines are basically hands off/lights
out manufacturing and require very
little input to keep running. I can train
anyone in the shop to set up and run
the machines and they are off to the
races the same day with zero issues.”
jigs and fixtures on the factory floor
If the 3D printed idea works – great! If not, make a quick iteration and print again. Continuous improvements are fast and
simple with little cost, time or risk.
Ryan Bocook, Manufacturing Engineer, BOOM Supersonic
jigs and fixtures on the factory floor
Ergonomics:
a study in cost
savings
The human value to great design
Liberty Electronics, a contract manufacturing shop producing
high-end assemblies for the military and aerospace industries
in Pennsylvania, began 3D printing jigs and fixtures to save
time and cost in custom tooling. They ended up saving
something even more valuable – workers’ health and livelihoods.
The value of an ergonomically designed tool is obvious:
more efficient production comes from better design,
light-weighting and the ability to quickly design custom
fixtures. But according to George Allman, manufacturing
engineering supervisor at Liberty, efficiency includes not
only time to part but also employee retention.
A one-off custom tool had been 3D printed for an
employee enabling her to continue in her job, despite
a painful medical condition. The success of this
custom tool got Liberty thinking about the true value
of ergonomically designed and 3D printed tools.
“We want to retain our employees,”
says Allman. “We want to make
accommodations to enable people to
work safely and continuously.”
The company purchased its first 3D printer back in 2013,
a Stratasys uPrint SE™, quickly justifying the purchase of
a Fortus 380mc™ and an Objet30 Prime™. “Costs don’t
end with the price of the injury itself,” says Allman, “it’s the
underlying costs of lost productivity, lost time and overtime.”
For Liberty, the initial investment in 3D printing was quickly
offset by the savings in increased productivity and
employee retention, as well as eliminating outsourcing.
Cost/savings
examples of 3D
printing at liberty
~65%
Reduction in process
time per task
300%
Increase in productivity
~85%
Cost savings of 3D
printed custom part
vs. outsourcing
jigs and fixtures on the factory floor
Ergonomics: Eckhart-style
Improving lives on the line
Eckhart, a leader in advanced industrial solutions, works to improve safety, reliability and efficiency in
manufacturing. In industries from medical OEMs to automotive, the Michigan-based company helps to customize
factory floor solutions, tailoring their solutions to the unique needs of each client.
“Our customers want proven solutions, durable solutions; the
assembly environment is harsh,” says Bob Heath, additive
manufacturing applications engineer. Repetitive tasks can be
especially taxing on employees. “These tools are being used
60 times an hour for an 8-hour shift, 3 shifts a day, 6 to 7 days
a week.”
Working to alleviate repetitive strain on the operator is one way 3D printing serves Eckhart. Being able to design
customized, ergonomic tooling that’s also far lighter-weight than traditionally designed tools is one benefit of the
additive process at Eckhart. But today’s manufacturing environment struggles with another shortfall, as well – the
lack of skilled workers.
“The shortage of skilled workers is a theme we hear constantly from our customers and part of our work is to help
address that need,” says Drew Morales, director of business development and engineering systems. 3D printed
tools help provide solutions that help make up for the shortage of workers as well as “projecting the ability of one
operator so that one can be the same as five...” says Morales.
Part of Eckhart’s 3D printing success is due to the strength and versatile materials available with Stratasys 3D
Printers. “With Stratasys engineering-grade materials such as FDM Nylon 12™ Carbon Fiber and ULTEM™ 1010
resin, we are able to produce durable, lasting solutions that can hold up and withstand the rigors of an
automotive environment,” says Heath.
When design freedom = success
Doing what traditional manufacturing can’t
When a company’s success depends on its ability to rapidly customize, tooling can become the roadblock to
success due to the time to part and the cost to get there. Nova Tech Engineering, a producer of automated
machinery for use by poultry hatcheries worldwide, was okay with machined tools until they hit growth mode and
needed the ability to rapidly iterate. CNC machining, injection molding or RTV molded parts became prohibitively
expensive for the engineering firm due to the varying geometry of their products.
Certain complex parts can’t always be injection molded, and Nova Tech found the solution to this challenge in
3D printing. For example, the time and cost of creating 10 12-piece carrier assemblies was four weeks and nearly
$45,000. With 3D printing, these can be produced in three days at a cost of $1,500 – saving 89% and 97%
respectively.
For Nova Tech Engineering, the benefits of 3D printing
don’t stop there. “There are other advantages like digital
inventory of the CAD designs, reduced outsourcing,
just-in-time manufacturing, eliminated tooling cost, and
the ability to combine components,” says Rooney.
Nova Tech bought its first two Stratasys 3D Printers mainly
for prototyping. Following that purchase, the engineering firm
purchased another 3D printer for pre-production and manufacturing. “Today we use these printers for various
applications such as rapid prototyping, creating casting molds, thermoforming, jigs and fixtures and manufacturing
finished parts,” says Rooney.
How does AM compare to traditional methods for Nova Tech?
Method
Production Time
Cost
Injection Molding
4 weeks
$44,175
AM
3 days
$1,490
Savings
25 days (89%)
$42,685 (97%)
jigs and fixtures on the factory floor
We were spending a lot of time
and money machining low-volume
components which was detrimental
to our overall operational efficiency.
Jacob Rooney, mechanical designer
jigs and fixtures on the factory floor
Racing from idea to reality
Team Penske wins with 3D printing
Tooling may not be what comes to mind when you think of championship race cars. But jigs and
fixtures are one of the many tools in Team Penske’s toolbox, necessary for winning results on the
track. “Technology plays a big role in racing today,” says Tim Cindric, Team Penske president.
Additive manufacturing “allows us to use the least amount of
time to take an idea and put it on the race track in the most
reliable and efficient way.”
The updating and iteration of parts is one of the most important elements of a winning team. Being
able to do so quickly can easily be the difference between winning and losing. A good example
of this is Team Penske’s IndyCar fuel probe handle redesign. Previously made from aluminum,
the idea for a new lighter, more ergonomic and streamlined handle had been considered but
with the Indy 500 race deadline only days away, hope wasn’t high the feat was attainable.
But Team Penske turned to 3D printed composite master patterns and sacrificial tools. Their
partnership with Stratasys enabled Team Penske to produce six new probes in time for the race. “All of
our components were produced without any failures or any issues along the way, which is a significant
feat for our manufacturing process,” said Andrew Miller, Team Penske composites engineer.
Speeding time to market
Faster process means quicker turnaround
There’s fast and then there’s fast when it comes
to tooling turnaround time. Being able to
produce a custom part in days versus weeks is
a challenge few companies can handle on their
own, at least early in their 3D printing journey.
When MAHLE, the automotive parts supplier, realized
they had only a week to design, build and ship a
custom fixture to South Korea in order to maintain their
timeline, they turned to Stratasys Direct Manufacturing
to help develop an automotive HVAC assembly.
Part of the challenge of this particular part was
MAHLE wanted to consolidate this part from three
pieces to one piece. Additive manufacturing allows
designers to free themselves from the constraints
of traditional manufacturing and allowed MAHLE to
deliver a part that was both robust and accurate.
Stratasys Direct Manufacturing provides a full
circle solution for companies such MAHLE, with
their team of additive experts and a wide array
of technologies that can be just the answer
for you when your timeline is beyond tight.
In less than a week, MAHLE had a
redesigned, dimensionally accurate and
stable part delivered to them from across
the world – a process that would have
taken 4 to 5 weeks with conventional
manufacturing. Thanks to part consolidation,
the fixture had a continuous and smooth
mating interface, which could only be
replicated in a metal fixture at a considerable
cost, saving MAHLE thousands by using
3D printing instead of CNC machining.
jigs and fixtures on the factory floor