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Success Story

Maflow drives additive manufacturing with Netfabb and Fusion 360

Maflow drives additive manufacturing with Netfabb and Fusion 360

Customer challenge

Experts in the automotive sector

Maflow Spain Automotive is part of the international Boryszew Group. Dedicated to the manufacture of products for the automotive sector and experts in the manufacture and production of air conditioning and mobile refrigeration pipes. In their eagerness for innovation and digitalization, they apply 3D printing technology in their production process and based on their experience, they make parts for third parties according to their needs.

The values that Maflow maintains in the management of daily companies seek to contribute to social welfare and sustainable development. The measures are developed from different perspectives such as sustainability and environmental actions, equal opportunities, health, human rights, improvement of the quality of life of employees and actions at the local level for the community.


Leveraging additive manufacturing

In its almost 30 years of life, Maflow Spain has been characterized by being a company in continuous search for continuous improvement and innovation in its production processes. The multinational has incorporated cutting-edge technologies based on industry 4.0. One of these technologies is additive manufacturing, which they began to take advantage of externally in Maflow in 2014, acquiring their first 3D printers in 2016. After the pandemic they decided to bet on additive manufacturing to create a new line of business and transfer the internal success of Maflow to other companies. From here they began working on incorporating an HP MJF 4200 printer. Maflow's success in this line of business is based on providing customers with the best treatment, accompanying them from the initial phases to the delivery of the final product, providing value in each phase of the project.

Project goals

The need to incorporate Autodesk Netfabb

When Maflow started working with the MJF 4200 printer, it used the standard software offered by HP. It was a simple and easy to use software, but soon some needs arose that this program could not satisfy.

That's when Maflow contacted Graitec for advice on Autodesk Netfabb. They helped them a lot in the process of analysing the software and finally it was decided to incorporate Autodesk Netfabb to prepare the printer jobs.

When the possibility of looking for other software was raised, Autodesk Fusion 360 began to be offered along with the Netfabb license. So, with the growth of the company, it was necessary to incorporate another design engineer who started using Autodesk Fusion 360.Currently, Maflow uses both Autodesk Fusion 360 and Netfabb on a daily basis, both for internal needs and for its customers. On the one hand, Autodesk Fusion 360 helps them design all the parts that are manufactured. On the other hand, Autodesk Netfabb helps them to optimize the costs of each printer set-up, as well as to significantly reduce the time needed to prepare the parts.

Solution

The benefits of Autodesk Fusion 360 and Autodesk Netfabb

Autodesk Netfabb is used to prepare additive manufacturing jobs with the HP 4200 printer. With it it is possible to improve both the preparation time of the pieces and the use of the printing volume thanks to the different automatic packaging methods available. With this tool you avoid having to place the pieces one by one manually, a process that could take several hours and is currently ready in minutes. This is just one of the improvements provided by Autodesk Netfabb that have allowed Maflow to reduce both preparation times and parts rejected due to collisions with adjacent parts or failures in 3D files.


More in less time

On the other hand, Autodesk Fusion 360 is used to design the different solutions that are applied in the Maflow factory, whether tools, machine components, improvements for processes or tools for the quality department.

Its intuitive interface and parametric modelling tools have enabled Maflow engineers to create complex designs efficiently and accurately, as well as reduce design time. This has resulted in faster development of new products and greater responsiveness to market demands. This translates into improved productivity and the ability to adapt quickly to changing customer needs.

Business outcome

A boost for the automotive industry

The reduction in time achieved with these tools has allowed more design iterations to be carried out in a simple way. Many of its functions (cutting in two clicks, measuring any element of the design, working at the same time with elements such as solid, surface or mesh, passing meshed elements to solids, etc.) make Autodesk Fusion 360 a great software for manufacturing-oriented design. In its assembly part, Autodesk Fusion 360 allows you to visualize movements between components to simulate their operation before starting manufacturing, in this way you can more accurately size each component of a set and see how it behaves with the rest in its different displacements. In summary, the combination of Autodesk Netfabb and Autodesk Fusion 360 has provided Maflow with greater efficiency, speed, accuracy and savings in parts manufacturing, which has driven the company's growth and success in the additive manufacturing sector and the automotive industry.

Conclusion

Quick response

The ability to react quickly to any unforeseen event is highly valued in a sector as competitive as the automotive sector, where it is necessary to optimize every aspect to the maximum. This can only be achieved through additive manufacturing. The high quality standards, indispensable in its automotive business, have also been transferred to the additive manufacturing line, generating a synergy in which both business lines benefit mutually. To do this, they have implemented a simple online tool to receive orders and have ultra-fast manufacturing with standard delivery in 5 days and a wide range of materials and finishes. Since this service was launched, Maflow has gained valuable knowledge that has helped the company grow in many ways. They have increased collaborations with other companies, improved the internal functioning of the service with significant cost and time savings, and have achieved a notable improvement in the image before customers in the automotive sector.

Project summary

    Duration & delivery

  • 10
  • 2023-09-28

    Autodesk solutions

  • Fusion 360
  • Fusion 360 with Netfabb

    Services provided

  • Implementation
  • Manufacturing
  • 3D Printing
  • Design for Manufacturing
  • Manufacturing
  • Installation
  • Configuration & Deployment
  • System & Software Maintenance
  • Training

    Customer industry

  • Additive Manufacturing
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