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 Sahameter
Atiwat Komolrochanaporn,,
Factory Manager
Sahameter Co., Ltd.
Objet Helps Sahameter Reduce Production Time by Five Months
Sahameter Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the UHM Group of Companies, located in Prachinburi, Thailand,. has been producing water meter and pipe-fitting components for over two decades. The company researches, manufactures and develops high-quality, best-of-breed,
water meter solutions for the Thai market.
Sahameter used to prototype its parts using CNC machines. This was a time consuming and inaccurate process that often took three to seven days for a single model. Worse, faulty prototypes repeatedly introduced inaccuracies into the molding process and those errors would then be transferred to production, resulting in actual parts that were faulty.
Atiwat Komolrochanaporn, Factory Manager at Sahameter, explains what that meant to the business: “The whole development process would have to be started again, almost from scratch and this drove up the development costs and adversely effected scheduling.”
After searching for a better, more accurate and faster alternative to CNC prototyping, Sahameter installed the Alaris30 Desktop 3D Printer by Objet Technologies. The company saw immediate benefits. Most importantly, accurate prototyping and correct molds instantly
and dramatically shortened the development process – by an average of five months per project.
In addition, the aims and objectives of projects are now better understood because the management team at Sahameter is able to review models prior to production. Furthermore, parts printed on the Alaris30 meet Sahameter’s form, fit and function testing requirements.
Mr. Komolrachanaporn says: “We put a water meter printed on the Alaris30 through a water pressure test as high as six bars and it passed brilliantly!”dvantage.
Speed and precision make Objet models a perfect fit
The speed and precision of Objet’s PolyJet™ 3D printing technology allows for quick design reviews, with new design iterations being printed in just hours. As a result, product review meetings and decisions about the status of a project are made speedily and the whole production process is accelerated. Mold fabrications printed on the Alaris30 are now consistently correct the first time round. Sahameter is also pleased with the user-friendly Objet Studio software and the size of the desktop machine, which fits into their office space perfectly.
"Without a doubt, parts prototyped on the Alaris30 3D printing solution meet form, fit and function requirements due to the technology’s accuracy and ability to print fine details,” says
Mr. Komolrachanaporn.
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From concept to market, Sahameter has turned around its prototyping process thanks to the Alaris30.
The inaccurate CNC technologies the company used in the past no longer burden production. Errors are minimized and time is saved, resulting in better revenue performance for Sahameter and an increase in the number of products released to market.
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| Case Study
| - CNC prototyping process was slow and it produced inaccurate models
- Errors were transferred to the
production process, resulting in bad molds and faulty production parts - These problems caused excessive development costs and prevented accurate production scheduling
Alaris30 Desktop 3D Printer from
Objet Geometries Results
- Prototypes are printed in hours
instead of days - Prototypes are now more
accurate and functional - Molding is done correctly on the first pass, saving an average of five months per project
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