Coesum handles the production of aesthetic and functional prototypes
Customer objective: Italiana Macchi intended to create a first prototype to validate the engineering of the new scale, test the assembly with the electronics and the functionality of the product. Later the customer had to present the product at the fair so he had to make an aesthetic pre-series waiting for the plastic injection molding pieces.
Coesum Solution: for the production of aesthetic prototypes the recommended solution was stereolithography, for the second step we recommended to use selective laser sintering.
Results: In a few days Italiana Macchi managed to get the monitors and do their own tests; the prototypes brought to the fair made it possible to present the new product, collecting commercial feed-backs from its own market before starting the final production.
Italiana Macchi was founded in 1886 as a craft workshop for the production of steels and two-plate pendulum scales. The production diversifies over time with the introduction of increasingly innovative and technologically advanced weighing instruments and with the production of slicers and equipment for the food industry. Today Italiana Macchi is one of the major manufacturers of bench-top electronic scales and weighing systems for the industry. Together with Zenith they are part of the Custom Group, a worldwide leader in the production of integrated solutions for retail and professional markets.
For this project the first need was to create an aesthetic prototype to do the first tests on the model. The solution chosen for this first step was the stereolithography technology suitable for the production of precise and detailed prototypes of great aesthetic impact. The material lends itself easily to surface processing such as painting, metallization, polishing and screen printing. In this case the customer had to paint the RAL 9001 opaque white prototype, so once the aesthetic faces were identified, the file was positioned in the machine to obtain the maximum finish on the part to be painted.
.
In a subsequent step at the Eushop fair in Düsseldorf we produced a series of nylon sintering pre-series. The choice fell on this rapid prototyping technology to have better performance at the mechanical level and not to risk breakage during assembly with electronics. The prototypes were also painted after grouting and sanding.
For this project, rapid prototyping technologies were decisive for optimizing time to market and presenting the product to its sales network while waiting to receive plastic injection pieces, optimize engineering with assembly tests and functional tests on the product.
Thanks to Italiana Macchi for choosing us and congratulations for your product!
