Custom thermoformer Joslyn Manufacturing Co. Inc. has purchased a 3D printer for its 105,000-square-foot facility in Macedonia, Ohio.
Project Manager Brittaney Hardy said in a March 8 email that the company has invested around $200,000 on the printer and will make prototype parts as well as prototype tooling.
"The printer has been in service for over two months," Hardy said.
The company said in a March 8 news release that, traditionally, engineers at Joslyn would use blueprints or computer-aided design (CAD) to produce molded prototypes from wood — a process that would take weeks.
With the addition of the 3D printer, the company said it can provide customers with a more cost- and time-effective option for prototyping.
"What used to take weeks to build out a prototype we can now do in days," Bret Joslyn, chief operations officer, said in the news release. "3D printing technology has come a long way in the past five years, and people are starting to take note of it more than ever before. It allows us to provide quick turnaround and short production runs for our customers."
Joslyn Manufacturing makes a variety of thermoformed plastic products — from drain pans and headlight covers to playground equipment and bins — for the appliance, automotive, consumer products, electrical, medical and recreation industries, among others.