The market for sanitizer and soap expanded rapidly in recent years. New entrants arrived and old ones are looking to take advantage of this new moment and new smart technologies. Companies are looking to introduce completely new dispenser lines or launch new pumps and bottles for existing lineups.
Developing bottle prototypes using traditional methods has been costly and time-consuming, but a new method has arrived that offers speed and cost-effectiveness previously unimaginable.
As fast as hitting ‘Print.’
This new method is Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). Instead of creating expensive and time-consuming prototype tooling, we can now use 3D printing to making a prototype mold in mere hours. Using our designs, we create two 3D printed molds that fit into our equipment. We are then able to use one of existing preform bottles (that’s a bottle before is has been blown into its final shape) to quickly made a high-quality prototype.
The speed of this prototyping—alongside the speed of local manufacturing—can lead to a significant competitive edge.
Time is money. But money is also money.
Developing a new bottle design can be a costly endeavour, particularly when using traditional manufacturing processes. The expenses associated with tooling, material wastage, and design alterations can quickly add up.
FDM printers use relatively inexpensive thermoplastic materials—inexpensive especially when compared to other prototyping materials. Having affordable materials frees companies to experiment with multiple designs without breaking the bank.
Print. Test. Refine. Print. Test. Refine.
Creating a successful bottle design for dispensers often requires multiple iterations to fine-tune the product’s aesthetics, ergonomics, and functionality. FDM’s quick turnaround time allows designers to produce and test numerous prototypes in a short span.
With physical prototypes in hand, our team of designers, engineers, and our Quality Assurance team gets tangible understanding of the bottle’s form and usability. We can subject the bottle to real-world testing and easily identify design flaws. And these prototypes are functional—meaning that we can examine its strength, durability, and resistance to chemical interactions with sanitizers and liquid soaps.
By conducting functional tests on FDM prototypes, we can ensure that their bottles meet all of our partner’s requirements and necessary regulations before committing to mass production.
And if a design needs to be tweaked, making necessary adjustments is simple and fast.
A sudden revolution with FDM
We produce bottles in our Canadian plant for our own product lines and for our partners. Our existing productions means that we are able to draw on a wide range of bottle preforms that we currently use in our X10, Cloud Bottle, KX, and Hospitality dispensers.
FDM has revolutionized the prototyping process at our Beamsville, Ontario location. We are thrilled to offer this valuable tool to our partners to speed up development timelines and reduce expenses.
Kommentieren