Astec, a member of the Astec Industries, Inc. family of companies, and world leader in Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) equipment technology chose 3D Systems' MultiJet Printing (MJP) as the 3D printing machine to bring in house and is utilizing it almost daily to produce prototypes and scaled plant models for sales and marketing purposes.
"Our Projet 5600 (previously sold as the Projet 5000) is a versatile workhorse providing prototypes and scale model components in a fraction of the time of our previous methods at a much lower cost. The reliable performance and large build area allow us to produce more prototypes in-house for Astec, as well as, for other Astec Industries, Inc. companies worldwide, speeding up our product development cycles. The excellent part finish and detail is also ideal for our scale model tradeshow displays that support our sales and marketing efforts. Our ProJet is well on its way to paying for itself and has been a game-changing addition to meet our prototyping and model making needs.”Michael S. Swanson, P.E., Manager – Astec Burner Group, Chattanooga, TN
Astec is utilizing its ProJet 5600 multiple times weekly to produce prototypes for all Astec Industries, Inc. companies along with producing its own 1/48th scaled manufacturing plant models for sales and marketing use. Astec historically outsourced its rapid prototyping to third party suppliers and when the team decided to bring this functionality in-house they chose 3D Systems' Multi Jet Printing (MJP) technology. Once they had the machine in-house they have produced more prototypes, in a faster time for less money. Realizing how easy the machine is to use, its superior part quality and minimal feature size they started producing pieces of scaled plant models with the machine; previously they were all produced by hand. By utilizing the ProJet MJP printer to produce these scaled models they are now able to generate them in 1/3 the time for less money.
Reasons for choosing Multi Jet Printing:
- Non-porous materials
- Tough parts can be drilled & tapped
- Prototypes have good temperature and chemical resistance
- Part size, surface quality, and detail
