Allowing for self-sustainability, incredible customization, affordability, speed in production whether making prototypes or small batches, and more, what makes the benefits further fascinating is that they do indeed mean different things to different people in different places. So while cultures differ, as do needs, 3D printing manages to fit in well everywhere—and especially for designers and engineers.
We cover many stories regarding 3D printing in India, from bioprinting liver tissue to mixing education and engineering to those dedicated to accessibility and affordability. As popularity rises, so does demand from customers and businesses who many not yet have made the leap into buying the hardware—or whatever they have purchased may not able to handle the requirements of a particular project.
With that in mind, Stratnel Technologies has put a focus on the world of engineering and how their prototyping needs can be met quickly, and with quality, in order to meet deadlines, product releases, and more. Headquartered in Bangalore, Stratnel offers consulting, tooling advice, and 3D printing bureau services to customers in India.
In preparing engineering solutions, they consider:
- The engineering engagement – identifying value in the engineering process flow
- The deep dive – ‘drilling down’ to understand the methodologies behind a project or new product
- Additive manufacturing – how it can speed up and streamline a project
- The window of opportunity – improving products to avoid obsolescence
CEO K. Padmanabhan (who prefers to be called just by his first initial) brings more than 30 years of experience to Stratnel in vendor development, product and tool design, and engineering management. K is a mechanical engineer, specializing in tool design, and, for nearly 20 years previous, served as the CEO of Interplex Electronics.
“The basic strength of Stratnel is not just as a printing bureau; anybody with a $2,000 home printer can do that. We take the service a few notches higher by working with customers to verify design integrity, manufacturability and prototype management,” says Raghavan.
As K and Raghavan teamed up to found Stratnel, they explain that they sought to use their areas of expertise in the following:
- Product design
- Tool design
- Process control
- Prototyping
“We are initially focusing on Bangalore as lot of basic research and product development in aerospace, heavy engineering and automotive gets carried about in and around this place,” says K. “However, if there are specific customer challenges that need to be solved, we can work with virtually any customer anywhere in the world. We have adequate logistics support to cater to this model as and when required.”
While Stratnel may be a new startup in the 3D printing space of India, they bring an enormous amount of experience and knowledge to the table, focusing on the technology as a way to improve manufacturing, optimize design, and offer quick turnaround times for engineers under deadlines. Discuss this new service further in the Stratnel 3D Printing forum over at 3DPB.com.