The Challenge
Avid Product Development (a Lubrizol Company) is a design, engineering, and fabrication company that acts as a one-stop-shop for high quality part manufacturing. Avid differentiates themselves from other AMaaS companies (Additive Manufacturing as a Service) by offering a wide array of post-processing options for printed parts in order to give clients exceptional final part quality.
Avid was looking for a cost effective way to offer their clientele creative additive manufacturing designs, but their current equipment was inhibiting what they could produce. Additionally, they sought to implement a 3D printing system that would require less hands-on management from their operators, allowing them more time to focus on core business activities. A limited selection of material types and material color, and the substantially higher costs that comes with working with legacy machines, was preventing them from exploring new, innovative client offerings. This drove them to install an Array in their shop.
The Solution
One of the features that immediately drove Avid to Array was Mosaic’s supporting materials line up. A greater range of materials and a greater range of colors available for PLA, allowed them to achieve a balance of creativity and final part quality. Material pods took this one step further, giving operators a much quicker way of managing materials when they ran out. The continuous print time of Element inside of Array, coupled with the Material Pod system, really expanded what they could do with their production time.
“Material Pods (Element) close the loop on the automation side by allowing us to run prints un-interrupted, we can start the next print automatically, we can do multiple colors. It really opens up a lot of opportunities for creative design.”
- Connor Reddington, Avid (a Lubrizol Company)
Array provides an efficient, automated, FFF solution that helps the Avid team stay focused on building the best client experience, while producing high quality parts in a wider number of colors and material types.
The Future
”Array really automates 3D printing by making it a hands off procedure, I can send a print from my computer at home and not have to come into the office at 9pm - the parts are just sitting there ready for me the next day.”
- Connor Reddington, Avid (a Lubrizol Company)
Array’s automation will improve Avid's throughput capacity beyond what they've had in their 6 years of doing business. In addition, the wide material line offered with Array provides them with greater flexibility in what they can make for their clients. Avid can now take on more clients and tackle more complex projects -- printing industrial parts in PEEK, PEKK, Ultem or CF Nylon, for example.
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