Italian automated packaging machinery manufacturer, Marchesini Group, has established a customized production business model with Stratasys additive manufacturing technologies, to meet the needs of the packaging industry.
For Marchesini Group, the production of complex, customized parts with traditional manufacturing methods in recent years has proved to be an extremely costly and time-consuming process and left them being unable to meet the growing demands of today’s packaging manufacturing industry satisfactorily.
At Marchesini Group, we say that ‘extra-ordinary is our ordinary’, meaning that we are faced with challenging, entirely customized projects on an almost daily basis.Mirko Fortunati of Marchesini Group
To better streamline the production of a wide range of packaging machines and lines for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries, Marchesini Group decided to change their approach with the integration of Stratasys 3D printing technology.
The company currently houses ten Stratasys FDM 3D printers (Fortus 900mc, Fortus 450mc x 4, F270 x 5), as well as two PolyJet multi-material 3D printers, to design, develop, and manufacture their flagship machines and packaging lines.
The customized business model approach meant that Marchesini Group has been able to optimize their part lead times from several weeks to just a few days while minimizing costs as they can just produce on demand the exact quantity of required parts without going to expensive tooling or machining.
Having this on-demand production capability enables our engineers to take advantage of the greater design freedom enabled by 3D printing, which has empowered Marchesini Group to achieve higher-quality results for our customers.Mirko Fortunati of Marchesini Group
The on-demand capability of 3D printing has also seen Marchesini Group being able to print any replacement parts with agility and with no minimum order requirement for machines that are deployed to customers across the globe. There is no need for storage facilities or extensive part inventories, and minimize downtime for all parties.
Thousands of functional parts for its packaging machines have been 3D printed, including protective cases, cable support systems, and junction boxes. Most were printed using tough thermoplastics like Nylon 12CF or ULTEM 9085 resin, which are suitable as metal replacement applications. This has enabled the company to lightweight many parts by at least 30%.
In 2019 alone, we recorded a total of 22,480 hours of operation for our FDM 3D printing equipment – equating to almost 15 hours a day. For our two PolyJet 3D printers, a total of 1,700 hours of operation, the equivalent of about eight hours a day. As we continue to expand these technologies across our design and production process, we can expect these figures to be even higher in the future.Mirko Fortunati of Marchesini Group
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