3D printing technology gives machinery a new lease of life

AVI.COOP, part of the Amadori supply chain, commissioned Elmec 3D to build a component that is no longer in production while at the same time improving the flexibility and performance of the entire production process.

Elmec 3D recently offered its expertise to the food industry when it was commissioned by AVI.COOP, a cooperative company owned by Amadori, to give a new lease of life to an obsolete industrial machine.

The Elmec Informatica additive manufacturing business unit used 3D printing technology to design and build a gripper hand for a mechanical arm that is no longer in production while at the same time improving the robot’s speed and performance.

The first step in the project was to reproduce the original component using HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology, creating a version with lower weight and reduced production costs.

Following optimisation, the new gripper has half the weight of the original and 97% lower production costs, a solution that brings performance benefits for the entire production chain.

“This is a major revolution for the production process,” says Martina Ballerio, Business Unit Manager at Elmec 3D. “Thanks to 3D printing technology, component obsolescence is no longer a problem but an opportunity.”