A need for quicker, cost-effective prototyping.
EC-Atech is a Hong Kong-based original equipment manufacturer specialising in the production of toner cartridges. Achieving a high level of precision is crucial to the company because of its need to ensure that the final products do not leak ink and are free of any other printing defects. For this reason, EC-Atech strives to develop high-quality prototypes that strictly adhere to specifications, especially when it comes to fixtures. These fixtures are instrumental in ensuring the efficient operation of the toner cartridges and their ability to maintain accurate, repeatable and consistent motions between workpieces. To do so, the fixtures needed to be durable and customised to each toner cartridge.
The high standards on precision can pose a challenge to balancing quality and cost. This was the case for EC-Atech when it worked with a third-party manufacturer for its prototype development. To meet the strict requirements, the team often had to communicate back and forth with the client and the prototype manufacturer to customise the prototypes to the exact specifications. This process would often require up to five rounds of revisions before the team could finalize the design. Besides the need for multiple revisions, the use of metal prototypes — the default method for the industry — often lowered the efficiency of the process because the lead time for metal production could range anywhere from three weeks to four months. And when combined with the need for multiple design revisions, prototype development could take upwards of a year, if not longer.
Seeing these inefficiencies, EC-Atech saw the need to streamline its workflow. With the goal of producing durable and custom-made prototypes, the company turned to Stratasys and its FDM Technology™ — an additive manufacturing technique that builds workpieces layer by layer using production-grade thermoplastics. This technology is optimised for producing workpieces in complex shapes, which made it ideal for EC-Atech. Today, FDM Technology allows the company to customise the fixtures for each toner cartridge.
