Fender Cuts Rapid Prototyping Costs in Half with Objet 3D Printer - Objet - #1

Text version of the page

At a Glance Company: Fender Musical Instruments Corporation URL: www.fender.com Location: Scottsdale, Ariz. Industry: Designer and manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers Challenges • Get prototypes faster, accelerate product introductions and reduce cost of outsourcing prototypes Solution Objet Eden350V™ 3D Printing System Results • Prototypes can now be created in a few hours, product development cycles accelerated by as much as 6-12 months, and rapid prototyping costs cut in half Fender Musical Instruments Corporation designs and manufactures stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster. The company makes acoustic guitars, electric basses, mandolins, banjos, and violins, as well as guitar amplifiers, bass amplifiers, and PA (public address) equipment. Avril Lavigne, Elvis Costello, Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend and Sting are among the artists known for using Fender equipment. While engineers focus on how instruments should sound, a group of industrial designers at Fender work on how they will look. Design is an extremely important element of Fender’s business. The company maintains its own in-house design center complete with a model shop to explore new concepts, create designs, prototype and test. Shawn Greene, Senior Industrial Designer for Fender, plays a key role in that effort. “We’re dealing with artists, and often professional musicians, so all of our instruments and equipment need to look great as well as sound great,” says Greene. “Our design group works closely with marketing to explore different colors, graphics and the types of metal and plastic parts used. Before we spend anything on a product we do a lot of concept work and research to make sure it’s the right fit and product.” Rising volume, costs cause Fender to bring rapid prototyping in-house 3D rapid prototyping has been a part of Fender’s design process for years, and until recently the company outsourced this work to service bureaus. However, Greene and his team were frustrated by the time and expense of outsourcing. It often took one to two weeks to get a “rapid” prototype back, a time lapse that Fender Cuts Rapid Prototyping Costs in Half with Objet 3D Printer “Getting our product out first, and making sure it’s the right product, is really important at Fender. The ability to do rapid prototyping in-house with the Eden350V has had a huge impact on both fronts” Shawn Greene, Senior Industrial Designer, Fender Case Study Musical instruments company leverages Objet’s Eden350V to speed product development, improve quality of designs