Objet Helps Sahameter Reduce Production Time by Five Months - Objet - #1

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At a Glance Company: Sahameter Co., Ltd URL: www.uhm.co.th Location: Prachinbur, Thailand Industry: Water supply equipment Challenges • CNC prototyping process was slow and it produced inaccurate models • Errors were transferred to the production process, resulting in bad molds and faulty production parts • These problems caused excessive development costs and prevented accurate production scheduling Solution Alaris30 Desktop 3D Printer from Objet Geometries Results • Prototypes are printed in hours instead of days • Prototypes are now more accurate and functional • Molding is done correctly on the first pass, saving an average of five months per project Sahameter Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the UHM Group of Companies, located in Prachinburi, Thailand,. has been producing water meter and pipe-fitting components for over two decades. The company researches, manufactures and develops high-quality, best-of-breed, water meter solutions for the Thai market. Sahameter used to prototype its parts using CNC machines. This was a time consuming and inaccurate process that often took three to seven days for a single model. Worse, faulty prototypes repeatedly introduced inaccuracies into the molding process and those errors would then be transferred to production, resulting in actual parts that were faulty. Atiwat Komolrochanaporn, Factory Manager at Sahameter, explains what that meant to the business: “The whole development process would have to be started again, almost from scratch and this drove up the development costs and adversely effected scheduling.” After searching for a better, more accurate and faster alternative to CNC prototyping, Sahameter installed the Alaris30 Desktop 3D Printer by Objet Technologies. The company saw immediate benefits. Most importantly, accurate prototyping and correct molds instantly and dramatically shortened the development process – by an average of five months per project. In addition, the aims and objectives of projects are now better understood because the management team at Sahameter is able to review models prior to production. Furthermore, parts printed on the Alaris30 meet Sahameter’s form, fit and function testing requirements. Mr. Komolrachanaporn says: “We put a water meter printed on the Alaris30 through a water pressure test as high as six bars and it passed brilliantly!” Objet Helps Sahameter Reduce Production Time by Five Months “We are saving approximately five months per project since integrating the Alaris30 Desktop Printer into our work process. The accuracy and ability to print fine details, greatly shortens our product development and production time” Atiwat Komolrochanaporn, Factory Manager, Sahameter Co., Ltd. Case Study