Willemse Technical Solutions is a Netherlands-based engineering company specializing in water management (including water boards), public health (drinking water and sanitation projects), logistics, energy, etc., with cases in Europe, North America and the Middle East. Willemse relied on the Raise3D Ecosystem comprised of six Raise3D printers and RaiseCloud management software to enable cost-effective low-volume production with fast turnaround times.
Willemse Technical Solutions.
Order and Challenge for Mass Customization
Willemse has a high demand for customized parts in small batches, such as, for example a request for a small batch of 600 custom products. However, the final price of using traditional processes is high and far exceeds what the client is prepared to pay. With a Raise3D printer and corresponding software, Willemse successfully delivered the order in time, with decent profitability.
Successful Order Deliver by E2 Printers
Willemse purchased one Pro2 Plus and five E2 printers to build a small 3D printing farm，and thus was able to achieve efficient small-batch production. Meanwhile, all printers were linked into one RaiseCloud account to streamline production management.
In Willemse’s case, the actual printing capacity of 5 E2s was equivalent to 10 printers . The E2 is a desktop 3D printer with independent dual extruders (also known as IDEX), meaning the extruders can operate simultaneously along the same axis during printing, allowing them to perform duplication and mirror printing (See details from E2 product page), which doubles productivity for the same timeframe.
Duplication and Mirror mode.
Willemse also 3D printed using TPU, however, this must be done using optimized settings or this kind of filament can get stuck in the extruder. (See details about 3D Printing TPU Filament).
E2 has the shortest print path among all Raise3D printers, the extruder motor and gears are designed to optimize the power fed to the gears, making TPU printing easier (See How E2 is optimized and suitable for TPU printing). In total, these E2 printers printed the first batch of products with TPU filament weight using 120kg of it in 10 weeks. Calculations show that approximately 50-55% of material has been saved when compared to conventional methods like injection molding, where the parts are 100% solid. In contrast, 3D printing allows the user to define a density instead of it having to be solid, saving material.
Models printed by E2 Printers.
Willemse also purchased Raise3D’s Pro2 Plus printer in pursuit of larger print size and print stability. The award-winning Pro2 series printers are recognized as professional 3D printers with consistent printing results and printing accuracy. Willemse wa able to carry out some larger-scale prototyping and testing in PLA, PETG, and ASA.
Raise3D Ecosystem Establishes a Standardized Production Process
Raise3D Ecosystem is a product solution that includes 3D printers, ideaMaker and cloud management platform RaiseCloud, which helps Willemse establish a standardized and smooth production process. The advantages of RaiseCloud are as follows:
- Real-time online distribution of production tasks
- One engineer controls and manages multiple 3D printers online
- Multiple engineers share printing tasks to achieve global synchronous production
- No huge learning curve, engineer-friendly
- Standardized and efficient production process
Patrick Willemse, the company owner hailed Raise3D as « the biggest reward for scaling production. »
Raise3d Ecosystem establishes a standardized production process.
Currently, these 6 Raise3D printers provide enough capacity for any volume production the market may currently require. Additional 3D printers may be purchased as new products are introduced in the future, making mass production of parts the norm.
This case is shared by Raise3D Netherlands distributor, FilRight: https://www.filright.com/nl/3d-printers/raise3d/
