Telford firm named as 2023 finalist at 'Cool Parts Showcase' awards
A Telford company has shown its credentials as a leading 3D printing company after being nominated for an award.
Ricoh 3D has been named as a 2023 Cool Parts Showcase finalist, in a competition launched by Additive Manufacturing.
It has been nominated in the Best Bespoke Solution category, for its work in creating 3D printed Industrial Machine Feet for a global food distribution firm.
The Industrial Machine Feet were originally intended to be created using fabricated steel but were instead polymer 3D printed using Multi Jet Fusion. By using a polymer, Ricoh 3D were able to reduce weight, lead time and shipping cost.
The initial challenge was obtaining ‘buy-in’ from the customer, as most companies opt for bespoke fabricated steel.
Ricoh's challenge was convincing the customer that this alternative solution would work more effectively.
They were able to work with Measurement Solutions Limited (MSL) and learned from their expertise on using nTop – an advanced 3D modelling software perfectly suited for making bespoke engineering parts.
Utilising MSL’s nTop expertise enabled Ricoh 3D to take a more advanced engineering approach to the design and development of the machine feet. In addition to which, there was a much shorter lead time with this approach, and it was also therefore more cost-effective.
The new, more lightweight parts were manufactured as print-on-demand and assembled in a controlled environment at Ricoh UK Products Limited (RPL), the home of Ricoh 3D.
Furthermore, this satisfied an initial consideration for freight costs as the machine feet needed shipping overseas to the end customer, so ‘lightweighting’ the final product was extremely beneficial.
Senior Engineer, Richard Minifie, said: “Ricoh’s Machine Feet are ‘cool’ for a number of reasons.
“Not least because of the visual impact the parts have as a result of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and optimisation but because they represent how our younger engineers are turning to 3D printing to solve real engineering problems.
“By using all of the tools available this is a true representation of how 3D printing can be used to its maximum with benefits beyond the physical part itself.”
The Cool Parts Showcase winners will be unveiled at the Formnext Forum in Austin, Texas on August 30, with voting opening on July 10.
