Ricoh Japan jigs and fixtures Stratasys
Ricoh’s 3D printed jigs and fixtures boost assembly line productivity, produced on the Stratasys Fortus 900mc Production 3D Printer using ABS plastic.
Ricoh Japan has adopted Stratasys' Fortus 900mc Production 3D printer to manufacture jigs and fixtures for its Production Technology Center assembly line.
Stratasys made public the company’s use of its 3D printing technology after Ricoh Japan fed back an improved efficiency and significant reduction in manual tooling errors. Replacing traditional metal tooling, the lightweight 3D printed jigs and fixtures have been utilised in an assembly line, located in the north-east branch of Ricoh Industries in Miyagi prefecture, Japan. The assembly line is part of Ricoh’s large-format printer manufacturing process.
Before working with 3D printing technology, Ricoh would outsource machine cut tools, often taking more than two weeks. Now, using CAD software and 3D printing, shapes and geometries can be determined, and parts built, within as little as a single day. It allows operators more time to attend to other duties, while new recruits are picking up the new skills in less time.
Moreover, Ricoh has been able to customise each tool precisely according to part geometry, reducing weight, and accelerating the manufacturing process, which sees operators handle more than 200 parts a day. The additively manufactured jigs and fixtures, printed in durable ABS thermoplastic, demonstrate a more contemporary manufacturing process, according to Taizo Sakaki, Senior Manager of Business Development at Ricoh Group, and the benefits are rife.
“Because we are producing an enormous number of parts, it takes a lot of time and effort to identify the right jigs and fixtures for each one. This manual process has become even lengthier as the number of components grows, requiring an operator [to] examine the shape, orientation and angle of each part before taking out a tool and placing it back in its original fixture. The operators were occasionally annoyed with the many different tools, and we were looking for a way to accelerate tooling to match our manufacturing schedule,” Sakaki said. “Now with Stratasys 3D printing, we are able to customise the tools according to the part and produce them on demand which is helping us restructure and modernise our production process.
“The Stratasys Fortus 900mc 3D printing solution enables us to realise designs that are difficult for conventional cutting methods to replicate, such as hollow interiors, curves or complex shapes. The material used to 3D print the tools is very strong and anti-static which is important due to the large number of electronic components we are assembling, adding to the advantages of Stratasys 3D printing.”
Ricoh believes its large-format printer assembly plant is pioneering the adoption of digital manufacturing, and the results of the inclusion of the Fortus 900mc further supports that notion. It will now continue to explore ways to utilise 3D printing to expedite workflows, something Stratasys commends and encourages.
“At Stratasys, we are committed to helping our customers overcome the constraints of traditional workflows and processes with a complete ecosystem of 3D printing expertise, technologies and services,” commented Omer Krieger, President of Stratasys Asia Pacific & Japan. “Customised 3D printed jigs and fixtures can play an important role in enabling companies to get products to market faster and are a great example of how Stratasys applies purposeful innovation to manufacturers’ goals and aspirations. Whenever you can reduce a process from weeks to days - that is a solution worth exploring.”
