ESTec amplifies innovation and tunes down costs with Objet 3D printing system - Objet - #1

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At a Glance Company: ESTec URL: www.estec.co.kr/HTML_eng/ Location: Korea Industry: Audio systems for home, auto and commercial environments Challenges • Need to create diverse and complex 3D prototype shapes with high accuracy and detail Reduce design and manufacturing costs and time Solution Eden350™ 3D Printing System from Objet Geometries Results • Processing has been reduced from one day to less than ten hours • In-house 3D printing capabilities save $150,000 in rapid prototyping costs (75% cost reduction) • Increased flexibility due to wide range of materials with varying properties and colors • Ability to rapidly print any 3D shape with high resolution • Significant time and cost savings thanks to highly accurate models that need no post process modifications At ESTec, a leading Korean manufacturer of high-quality audio systems, total commitment to providing an extraordinary sound experience has been a driving theme behind the company's evolution since its establishment in 1971. Its wide spectrum of innovative products includes automotive audio systems, home audio systems, display audio systems, micro acoustic transducers (used in mobile appliances), multimedia and PA speakers, amplifiers, and more. With production facilities in Vietnam, Malaysia and China, as well as Korea, and a distribution channel in the USA, ESTec is now a dominant player in the audio systems market. The development and perfection of such a diverse product range means that ESTec needs to take multiple market segment demands into account during the design-to-manufacture cycle. In addition to creating audio systems that are both functional and pleasing to the eye, each segment has its own set of requirements that needs to be adhered to. For example, the trend in the area of home audio systems is moving toward HDTV and high-quality slim speakers to support home theater with multi-channel speaker systems. For the automotive speaker industry, the speakers need to be designed according to stringent safety considerations and must be resistant to environmental factors such as high and low temperatures, humidity, and dust. Creating equipment that comprehensively answers the needs of each separate market requires real-life testing with prototype materials. This ensures that the testing process is accurate and the end product fully answers customer and environmental needs. Optimized quality, full flexibility and major cost savings Before purchasing the Eden350 3D printer, ESTec's prototypes were produced using outsourced CNC machining, which involved annual costs of more than $200,000. In addition, the quality of the CNC output depended on the operator's skill and there were often delays and inconsistencies in the design and manufacturing process. The Eden350 was installed at ESTec in December 2006 and since then has proved to be a real workhorse. "The machine has been running for nine hours every day for the past three years," comments Shin Jin-Sik, Senior Research Engineer at ESTec. "That's 10,000 hours of operation since it was installed, proving to us that the Eden 3D printer is very durable." ESTec amplifies innovation and tunes down costs with Objet 3D printing system “Since purchasing the Eden350 3D printer system, we have drastically cut down our processing time from one day to between eight and ten hours. Now, we can use a single Eden350 3D printer system in-house to print all 3D shapes without the need for any post-progress work” Shin, Jin-Sik, Senior Research Engineer Case Study