It's already paying off. They print as much in an hour as a home printer in 12

• 3D printing has changed many elements accompanying production. These are small changes, giving a few percent savings, but small savings in many places add up to a lot - emphasizes Bart Maeyens, head of 3D printing at Signify MyCreation, in an interview with WNP.
• 3D printers for private, "home" use are still slow. Industrial printers print in an hour what office printers print in 12 hours - our interlocutor gives the numbers.
• - In the European Union, it takes up to a year and a half to prepare a new product, in Poland it takes 14 weeks from the idea to the start of production - adds Bart Maeyens.

When 3D printing first appeared, its proponents said it would replace every type of manufacturing, because everything – whether plastic or metal – could be printed. A few years later, they admitted that although it was possible, mass production using injection molding machines or machine tools would always be faster. What has changed that Signify is talking about mass production using 3D printing?

- It not only talks, but already produces. There are many reasons. Let's start with speed. 3D printers for private, "home" use are still slow. Printing a small, several-centimeter element can take up to 12 hours. In industrial printers, however, the same element is created in less than an hour.

This is a matter of technical differences. For example, printers for individual use are usually open, so they have to waste more energy and time to properly heat the material for printing. In closed industrial printers, the heat circulation is completely different.

Today, machines are not only faster, but also of much better quality.

On the one hand, this increases the speed, and on the other hand, it is a very significant element in reducing the energy consumption of these devices, and therefore has an impact on reducing costs.

Today, the machines we use are not only faster, but also much better in terms of quality than those from a decade ago. When we started production, we only had a 60 percent success rate.

Only 6 out of 10 prints were acceptable?

- Yes. The rest went straight to recycling. Today, that percentage is 97 percent.

For some time, removing a finished element from printers was also a problem. From small printers, it must be manually pulled out. From industrial printers, products are automatically removed into sleeves and bags that collect the finished elements.

Is service becoming unnecessary?

- The independence of these devices opens up new possibilities. When Friday afternoon comes, we load the appropriate supply of material, turn off the lights and leave. The printers work all weekend, and on Monday we only have to select the finished elements from the containers and load a new batch of material.

Another factor that affects profitability is scale. If you have 100 printers, it will be a challenge to make a profit. But we have 900.

They are not located in one place, but scattered across several continents. However, from one place, they can be controlled, software can be changed, and documentation for new products can be sent. It is also easier to transport printers between factories than injection lines if the production volume needs to change in a given location.

Does this already enable more efficient production than traditional ones?

- 3D printing has changed many elements accompanying production. Often these are small changes, providing savings of a few percent, but having small savings in many places, we gain a lot in efficiency.

Savings start with the product preparation and production process. In the European Union, preparing a new product takes up to a year and a half, among other things because of the need to obtain all the approvals and certificates. Then, plants based on injection molding machines have to order the appropriate molds. Making these molds takes 16 weeks.

In our case, the cycle from idea to production start is 14 weeks. Most of this period is the time to obtain certificates, because of course our products go to market. The modeling process itself is several months in the traditional method, and in our case several days.

Greater flexibility allows you to maintain lower inventory levels

In production alone, changing a product in 3D printing conditions only means changing the software supplied to the printer. In the case of injection molding machines, the line must be retooled and new molds must be installed.

Greater flexibility also allows us to maintain lower inventory levels and reduce delivery logistics. We also don’t have to maintain spare parts warehouses. After a series of products is finished, manufacturers usually have to maintain a stock of spare parts, many of which end up unused and end up in the trash or recycling. We don’t have to – if the need arises, we simply print a specific item.

This also provides tangible savings in storage and logistics costs. Thanks to reduced logistics alone, we reduce our carbon footprint by 70 percent.

What impact do economies of scale have on production?

- In the case of production using injection molding machines, scale has a huge impact on the cost of a single item, including due to the cost of molds and the need to retool the line. For our prices, this is not as important.

The company can print exactly as many pieces as it needs

We print as many as the buyer needs – whether it is 12 or 12 thousand pieces. If the buyer later wants to increase the order, we print exactly as many pieces as needed. If any changes occur during this time, e.g. modernization or a change of technology, we do not have to order new molds. Our series can therefore always be as modern as possible.

You manufacture from plastic, and it's had a bad rap lately. Doesn't that bother you?

- First of all, it doesn't bother many buyers. For a long time, we had a narrative about how bad plastic is. Today, we understand that it's not the plastic that's bad, it's the way we deal with it. By choosing those types that are 100% recyclable, we can also use plastic in a circular economy.

Are you already 100% in such an economy today?

- I would lie if I said yes, but we are working towards it. We manufacture our lamps exclusively from polycarbonate, which is very durable and completely recyclable. So far we have introduced 5 lines from recycled material, and this year we are planning a larger batch.

We will make it for a client for whom we printed a line of lamps 8 years ago. Now we will take all these lamps, process them into granulate and make new lamps for the same buyer.