Polaris uses Fortus 3D Production Systems to Produce Functional Prototypes. - Stratasys - #2

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before cutting factory tooling.

Even before the injection mold was built, the marketing department wanted to show the new accessory at a "snow shoot" where the snowmobile industry demonstrates its latest models for the press. So they installed the FDM carrier rack prototype on a new 2008 snowmobile and shipped it to West Yellowstone. Test drivers put the machine through its paces, and the FDM prototype handled the conditions, just like a production part.

"Because FDM can produce accurate functional prototypes, we avoid about $60,000 in tooling cost per part by proving out the design before committing to tooling," says Larson. By contrast, the FDM prototypes for the carrier rack cost a total of only $1,200. "Every time we avoid cutting a tool, we save 8 to 12 weeks on tooling as well." For the carrier rack, two FDM prototype versions took 25 hours each, for a total of about 2 days. "Time savings like this, when multiplied by many components in an average project, results in improved time to market."

"As a result of this high value, there is so much demand for FDM parts within Polaris that we run the machine 625 hours out of the 720 hours in a month." This amounts to 86% of all the hours in a month - day and night. Machine reliability has been very impressive as well, says Larson. Of those monthly 625 hours expected of the machine, "we've calculated uptime at nearly 99%. And the little amount of time the machine is down includes our annual scheduled maintenance."

For more information about Fortus systems, materials and applications, call 888.480.3548 or visit www.fortus.com

Fortus 3D Production Systems Stratasys Incorporated

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Fortus 3D Production Systems Stratasys GmbH

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