Jung & Co. offers production planning and quality assurance in both order and sub-assembly production, using stainless steel, aluminum, and titanium materials. It works with many different industries, including pharmaceuticals, chemical engineering, fossil fuel extraction, and food and beverage. One of the items they produce is stainless steel spare parts for beverage filling plants. Every day, filling plants need to supply multiple sizes of bottles or cans, fill them, seal them, and transfer them to post-processing stations. This industry thrives on speed: production rates of 40,000-80,000 bottles or cans an hour are not unheard of. So if a plant is shut down for any reason, and takes days to find the problem, request a spare part, have it shipped, and then install it, profitability goes way down.
“Through additive manufacturing – frequently known as 3D printing – in stainless steel, titanium, aluminium and steel, we are now offering a professional production process for applications where conventional methods of production for these materials reach their limits. Innovative laser sintering enables the complex production of high-precision contours, geometries and any kind of free-form surface,” the company explains in describing their offerings.
Lehmann explained, “The can filler valve was redesigned so that it could be manufactured in one operation on an M2 cusing Multilaser machine. This means there is no longer any need for the seals and interfaces that are otherwise an inevitable consequence of the joining process. The fact that no assembly work is required is not only cheaper, but also saves time for our customers. Manufacturing of the part by conventional means takes around 8-10 weeks including the procurement of the required precision cast part, whereas the Additive Manufacturing takes around one week. In principle, this means we can manufacture spare parts on demand and then deliver them on time when the demand suddenly arises. The benefits that arise with such a precision part are extremely interesting for both us as the manufacturer and for our customers if the desire is to keep overhaul times or machine downtimes as short as possible.”
Lehmann says, “The demand for 3D printed metal components is expected to rise steadily and stable. I am thrilled that many of our customers are recognizing the benefits of additive parts. But I am just as delighted that we in house are able to familiarize our own employees and in particular the apprentices with the new technology. As a medium-sized enterprise, gaining more expertise is always a vital argument when talking to customers.”
Jung & Co. plans to purchase a mobile laser scanner in the next year, which will let the company adopt a whole new approach in rapidly supplying spare parts to its customers. Discuss in the Jung & Co forum at 3DPB.com.
[Source: Packaging Europe]