Workflows for the new industrial era
3D Printing Solutions for Manufacturing
- Accelerate each stage of production.
- Insulate your supply chain with stop-gap production and rapid tooling.
- Improve efficiency with on-demand jigs, fixtures, and replacement parts.
Rapid Prototyping From Concept to Pre-Production
- Bring additive manufacturing capabilities in-house to save time, cut costs, and keep sensitive IP inside your organization.
- Communicate your ideas to clients and suppliers with high-quality prototypes.
- Test and validate components before moving to mass production
Watch the video: How Ford Developed the New Explorer Using Formlabs SLA and SLS 3D Printers
Streamlined Production With In-House Manufacturing Aids and Rapid Tooling
- Reduce downtime by streamlining your manufacturing process with custom jigs and fixtures.
- Customize your assembly line without overhauling your equipment.
- Eliminate reliance on external providers by 3D printing tooling for injection molding, thermoforming, and more.
- Reverse engineer and replicate existing components for on-demand repairs, eliminating costly downtime.
Watch the video: How Ashley Furniture 3D prints custom jigs and fixtures for their manufacturing site.
Superior Quality End-Use Parts
- Take control over your production with high-performance materials that are up to the challenge of extreme environments.
- Insulate your supply chain and avoid the middle-man with bridge production in-house.
- Get your business started without over-spending on tooling.
Learn More About SLS 3D Printing for Production
Watch the video: How Hasbro produces mass customized action figures.
See Also
See all
Reduce Costs and Lead Times in Metalworking With On-Demand Jigs and Fixtures
Printing Presses, Empowered by 3D Printing: Robotics Applications and Replacement Parts at HEIDELBERG
How Unilever and Serioplast Develop New Bottle Designs With 3D Printed Molds
Guide to 3D Printing Tolerances, Accuracy, and Precision
How to Use 3D Printing for Injection Molding
One-Man Plastics Factory: Getting New Products to Market With the Fuse 1+ 30W
How to 3D Print In-House Jigs, Fixtures, and Other Manufacturing Aids
How Deutsche Bahn Uses 3D Printed Manufacturing Aids to Streamline Vehicle Maintenance
How PSYONIC Uses Agile Manufacturing to Build the World’s Most Accessible Bionic Hands
How Police and Special Vehicles Are Produced With SLS 3D Printing
"When we first started seeing the scans come off the Formlabs printer, we knew we had the quality down. We knew we had something there. All of a sudden there, you could start seeing that there's a bridge between that prototyping stage into the production stage."
Shay Moradi, VP of Innovation & Experiential Technology, Vital Auto
"Previously, we had been building each individual jig for a specific product line. With the 3D printing of the parts, it’s just simply replacing parts to adapt to different SKUs."
Brian Konkel, Ashley Furniture Production Engineer
"It has vastly streamlined our operations. [At any point in time], we have hundreds of projects live with hundreds of engineers. Now that staff has access to 3D printing, for every project that requires additive manufacturing, the time to produce components has been streamlined from probably around a week and a half to hours."
Mark Cocking, AMRC Polymer Additive Technical Lead of Design and Prototyping
From Design to Final Product Faster Than Ever Before
Never again wait weeks for tooling and parts to arrive from a supplier. Create end-use parts in a matter of hours, right in your office or on your factory floor to save months of development time and be able to respond to customer demands faster.
Step 1
Design and Iterate
Leverage Formlabs’ extensive range of materials and the same tools that you’ll use for production to iterate and improve your designs each day. Forget about the design restrictions of traditional processes—custom parts and complex designs can be produced with 3D printing in a cost-efficient manner.
Step 2
Manufacture
Move to production by relying on the repeatability and consistency of the Formlabs SLA and SLS 3D printers. Produce end-use parts directly with 3D printing, use 3D printed rapid tooling with your traditional manufacturing methods, and shock-proof your supply chain by printing manufacturing aids and repair parts in-house.
Step 3
Deliver to Market Faster Than the Competition
Complete your workflow with Formlabs post-processing solutions, use the 3D printed part as a component or sub-assembly in manufacturing, and beat your competition to market by streamlining operations.
Step 4
Scale Up and Be Agile
Scale up as the demand grows without excessive equipment costs, diversify your operations, and answer to the market and your customers faster than your competition without needing to invest in costly tooling changes.
Reduce Costs and Improve Stability by Bringing 3D Printing In-House
Prepare for the unexpected and minimize downtime with on-demand repair and replacement parts, protecting your investment in expensive industrial manufacturing equipment.
| Fuse 1+ 30W in-house | Service Bureau SLS | |
| Time | 16h 57m | 7-10 business days |
| Cost | $4.42 | $47.72 |
For a production facility, every minute without a replacement part represents lost value. With an in-house industrial SLS 3D printer like the Fuse 1+ 30W, manufacturers easily design and produce replacement parts in just a few hours.
Crank Handle Replacement Part
A Full Suite of 3D Printing Solutions
MAXIMUM VERSATILITY
Form 4
Produce high-quality, functional prototypes and end-use parts with an extensive materials library.
- Small to mid-size prototypes
- Molds and dies
- Connectors and brackets
- QA and go/no-go gauges
THINK BIG
Form 4L
Take control of large-scale part production, increase your throughput, and bring your biggest ideas to life.
- Mid-size to large prototypes
- Molds and dies
- Assembly jigs
- Toolholding and fixtures
HIGHEST PERFORMANCE
Fuse 1+ 30W
Bring production-ready nylon 3D printing onto your benchtop with an affordable, compact selective laser sintering (SLS) platform.
- Functional prototypes
- End-use parts: enclosures, connectors, manifolds
- Long-lasting, durable jigs and fixtures
High-Performance Materials for Engineering and Manufacturing
Formlabs has an extensive library of proprietary 3D printing materials suitable for even the most demanding applications.
Silicone 40A Resin
Silicone 40A Resin is the first accessible 100% silicone 3D printing material, using Formlabs’ patent-pending Pure Silicone Technology™. Eliminate molding and labor-intensive casting processes and 3D print pure silicone parts in-house, in a matter of hours. Choose Silicone 40A Resin to create soft, pliable, and durable parts that can withstand repeated cycles of flexing, stretching, and compression without tearing.
- Seals, gaskets, grommets, connectors, and dampeners
- Wearables, handles, and grippers
- Customized prosthetics, orthotics, and medical devices
Formlabs is Open
Maximize your 3D printer’s potential with Formlabs Developer Platform. Unlock the possibility of printing with any 405 nm photopolymer resin or 1064 nm powder on Formlabs 3D printers, customize your print settings, or build software integrations.
FAQ
Yes, 3D printing is used across multiple stages of manufacturing, including rapid prototyping, tooling, production of end-use parts, and manufacturing aids like jigs and fixtures. Formlabs SLA and SLS printers are designed to support each of these applications directly on the factory floor or in-house.
Formlabs printers support rapid prototyping, rapid tooling for traditional processes like injection molding and thermoforming, custom jigs and fixtures, and end-use part production. They also enable bridge production and supply chain insulation through on-demand replacement parts.
SLA printers like the Form 4 use photopolymer resins to produce high-accuracy parts with fine features, making them well suited for prototypes, tooling, and some end-use applications. SLS printers like the Fuse 1+ 30W use nylon powder to create durable, functional parts ideal for end-use components, enclosures, and long-lasting jigs and fixtures.
In-house 3D printing can cut production costs by up to 90% compared to outsourcing and reduce lead times from 1-2 weeks to less than 24 hours.
Yes, Formlabs SLA and SLS printers are used to produce functional end-use parts directly, including enclosures, connectors, manifolds, and custom components for low-volume production. High-performance materials like Nylon 12 Powder, Tough Resins, or Rigid 10K Resin are specifically suited for demanding production environments.
By printing replacement and repair parts in-house on demand, manufacturers can avoid reliance on external suppliers and reduce downtime when equipment fails. Rapid tooling capabilities also allow teams to bridge production gaps without waiting for traditional tooling to be manufactured.
Formlabs offers a broad material library including general-purpose, impact-resistant, high-stiffness, temperature-resistant, elastomeric, casting, and specialty resins and powders, each suited to specific manufacturing needs.
Upgrade Your Prototyping and Production with Additive Manufacturing Today
Explore our 3D printers to find the right solution for your business or contact a Formlabs Solution Specialist for a 1-1 consultation.
