Service providers for contract manufacturing of electronic assemblies, devices and systems are under time and cost pressure from clients. The US contract manufacturer Jabil relies on additive manufacturing with desktop 3D printers. At its Auburn Hills plant in Michigan, the company uses Ultimaker printers to produce parts for low-volume production, but also to print tools, assembly jigs and fixtures for the production process itself. Jabil has had a positive experience after a quick implementation: cost savings, time reduction, faster time to market and even changes in internal processes are the result.

In Auburn Hills, the focus is on customers from the healthcare and industrial sectors, but the company also serves the special manufacturing requirements of companies from the transportation, IoT and measurement technology sectors. The aim is to reduce both time and costs until product launch and to minimize risks. Normally, new products are manufactured in very large quantities in order to reduce unit costs. With 3D printing, however, the economic situation can be changed significantly, as smaller quantities are now also available at affordable prices.

Rethinking traditional manufacturing processes
To enable lower quantities and shorter product lifecycles, the team tested and evaluated the possibilities of additive manufacturing at an early stage. In the past, external workshops were the only producers of jigs, fixtures and tools needed for production. "It can take a machine shop up to three weeks to produce a simple tool," says John Wahl, tooling and manufacturing engineer at Jabil. "For more complicated tools with moving parts, production can take up to two months."

The shorter manufacturing time is one of the most attractive advantages of additive manufacturing. "3D printing reduces the limitations of traditional manufacturing technologies," adds Rush LaSelle, Senior Director Business Development. "Product designers can focus on the results and part performance instead of investing a lot of time in the production process itself." In addition, Jabil's designers were often concerned with different cost models, as the prices for one-off production were significantly higher than the production of tools in larger quantities.

In order to bring products to market faster, the team investigated the possibilities of 3D printing for the production of tools, fixtures and manufacturing equipment. "Just three hours after installing the Ultimaker 3D printers, we had our first order to produce spare parts. The traditional approach would have been to stop production until the required spare part was delivered," says Wahl. Following this success, Jabil used the 3D printers for a variety of applications. This is because individual parts are no longer subject to cost constraints.

Months become weeks
One of the company's first customer successes with additive manufacturing was in medical technology. This involved improvements in the production of a mobile imaging system. The team modeled the process and printed the devices and tools overnight. The ability to implement revision changes quickly was crucial. "We verified a design change and then printed an entire unit in just a few hours," says Wahl. "It used to take months from problem identification to final acceptance of the developed solution. With 3D printing, we completed the entire process in just a few weeks."

In fact, Jabil can now produce tools in advance based on the customer's CAD models. "We can now quickly replace defective parts on the production line or implement a different fixture using 3D printing," says Wahl. To date, Auburn Hills has achieved a reduction of more than 30 percent in tooling costs and an 80 percent reduction in the time it takes to produce the final tools and fixtures. Customers appreciate the ability to repeat prints quickly and frequently. Equally impressive is the freedom in product design. "If the customer can think it, we can print it," says Wahl.