Marchesini集团在其位于意大利博洛尼亚省城镇Pianoro的总部运营着一个3D打印工厂，该工厂配备10个生产级FDM系统（一个Fortus 900mc，四个Fortus 450mc和五个F270系统）以及两个PolyJet多材料3D打印机。这种广泛的内部功能可用于公司的Marchesini旗舰装盒机和其他几条包装线的设计，开发和制造过程中。由于公司生产的每台机器都需要根据客户的要求和生产流程进行定制，因此3D打印已被证明是一项特别有价值的技术。
At its headquarters in Pianoro, a town in the Italian province of Bologna, Marchesini Group operates a 3D printing facility with 10 production-grade FDM systems (one Fortus 900mc, four Fortus 450mc and five F270 systems) as well as two PolyJet multi-material 3D printers. This expansive in-house capability is used throughout the company’s design, development and manufacturing process for Marchesini’s flagship cartoning machines and several other packaging lines. Because each machine produced by the company needs to be customized to its customer’s requirements and production process, 3D printing has proven to be an especially valuable technology.
“在Marchesini集团，我们说'非凡是我们的普通'，这意味着我们几乎每天都要面对具有挑战性的，完全定制的项目，”负责Marchesini集团机械车间协调的Mirko Fortunati评论道。 “然而，事实证明，使用传统制造方法生产复杂的定制零件非常昂贵且耗时，这已不再适合当今包装制造行业不断增长的需求。”
“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,” commented Mirko Fortunati, who is responsible for coordinating the mechanical workshops at Marchesini Group. “However, producing complex, customized parts with traditional manufacturing methods has proved extremely costly and time consuming, which is no longer suited to the growing demands of today’s packaging manufacturing industry.”
他补充说：“将我们的工业级FDM 3D打印机集成到我们的生产过程中，极大地减少了我们的零件交货时间，从几周缩短到几天。” “此外，我们可以经济高效地生产所需数量的零件，而无需昂贵的工具或机加工。拥有这种按需生产能力，使我们的工程师能够利用3D打印带来的更大的设计自由度，这使Marchesini Group能够为我们的客户实现更高质量的结果。”
“Integrating our industrial-grade FDM 3D printers into our production process has drastically reduced our part lead times from several weeks to a few days,” he added. “Added to that, we can cost-effectively produce the exact quantity of parts we need, without requiring 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.”
包装设备公司还在维护和修理操作中使用3D打印。也就是说，一旦将其机器部署到全球客户之后，Marchesini便可以灵活地制造任何所需的替换零件，而无最低订购要求。按需生产备用零件或替换零件的能力消除了对存储设施和大量零件库存的需求，同时还使该公司能够以最少的停机时间将零件快速交付给客户。
3D printing is also used by the packaging equipment company in its maintenance and repair operations. That is, once its machines are deployed to customers across the globe, Marchesini can manufacture any needed replacement parts with agility and with no minimum order requirement. The ability to produce spare or replacement parts on demand eliminates the need for storage facilities and extensive part inventories, while also enabling the company to deliver parts to customers quickly, for minimal machine down time.
迄今为止，该公司已为其包装机3D打印了数千个功能部件，包括保护箱，电缆支撑系统和接线盒。大多数零件都是使用Stratasys的FDM Nylon 12CF或ULTEM 9085树脂等坚硬材料印刷的，这些材料适用于金属替代应用。 3D打印和热塑性材料的结合实际上使该公司将许多零件的重量减少了至少30％。
To date, the company has 3D printed thousands of functional parts for its packaging machines, including protective cases, cable support systems and junction boxes. Most of the parts are printed using tough materials like Stratasys’ FDM Nylon 12CF or ULTEM 9085 resin, which are suitable for metal replacement applications. The combination of 3D printing and thermoplastic materials has actually enabled the company to reduce the weight of many parts by at least 30%.
“这不仅为我们的客户提高了机器人的运动速度和生产率，而且还降低了退化率，” Fortunati补充说。 “这些3D打印材料还符合特定的行业法规，重要的是使我们能够将该技术扩展到更多的生产应用程序中-帮助我们进一步为客户创新产品。”
“This not only increases the speed of movement and productivity of the robot for our customers, but it also lessens the rate of degradation,” added Fortunati. “These 3D printing materials also comply with specific industry regulations, which importantly enables us to expand this technology into even more production applications – helping us to further innovate our products for customers.”
就Stratasys的PolyJet技术而言，它用于生产需要两种或两种以上材料的零件，包括抓紧钳，这些钳将硬质和类橡胶材料结合在一个组件中。该公司解释说，这些钳子用于处理诸如传单或小罐子之类的精致物品。
Stratasys’ PolyJet technology, for its part, is employed for the production of parts that require two or more materials, including grasping pincers, which combine hard and rubber-like materials in a single component. The company explains that these pincers are used to handle delicate items like leaflets or small jars.
“可以说增材制造是Marchesini集团生产不可或缺的一部分，” Fortunati总结道。 “仅在2019年，我们就记录了FDM 3D打印设备的总运行时间22,480小时-相当于每天近15小时。对于我们的两台PolyJet 3D打印机，总共需要运行1,700小时，相当于每天大约8小时。随着我们在设计和生产过程中不断扩展这些技术，我们可以期望将来这些数字会更高。”
“It’s fair to say that additive manufacturing is an integral part of Marchesini Group production,” concluded Fortunati. “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 8 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.”
文章来源：3dprintingmedia
