"We're still in the first stages of 3D printing, but we've already seen a reduction of costs in the applications that we found by 70-90% and also a decrease of delivery time of these applications of 70-90%," said Isabelle Haenen, Global Supply Chain Procurement at Heineken. "Local manufacturing helps us a lot in increasing uptime, efficiency and output. We use 3D printing to optimize the manufacturing line, create safety and quality control tools, and create tools for our machines which that help us to reduce change over time. I think there will be even more purposes in the future."
The Sevilla brewery produces several brands of Heineken-owned beers, with production capacity of up to 500 million liters of beer per year. The engineers at Heineken have been utilizing 3D printing for about one year, first using the Ultimaker 2+ and now multiple Ultimaker S5 printers, a larger, enterprise-ready machine. The 3D printing technology was first used for safety applications, but the engineers quickly learned time and cost can be saved by printing custom optimized functional parts for machines on the manufacturing line. The variety of use cases now include:
- Applications to increase the uptime of our production line – Heineken 3D prints functional parts for its machines. Printing the spare parts impacts costs as well as time availability of the parts.
- Optimizing part designs – The team was able to replace various redesigned parts with an optimized design. For example, a metal part used with the quality sensor on the conveyor belt would often knock bottles over, creating a blockage, or eject good bottles onto the ground. The redesigned 3D printed part prevents this, saving bottles, cost, and time.
- Tools for quality control and maintenance – Heineken has also created completely new tools that make it easier to perform maintenance or check the quality of products or machines. These tools help prevent machines from not working correctly or breaking down.
- Solutions to increase operator safety – Employee safety has the highest priority within Heineken. In order to keep employees as safe as possible, Heineken has designed and implemented the use of parts and tools to prevent accidents. For example, improved locking mechanisms for machines so they cannot start to operate during maintenance.
"Every company has its own unique challenges in the production process, which is why the ability to create custom solutions straight from the factory floor is such a game-changer for the manufacturing industry," said Jos Burger, CEO of Ultimaker. "Heineken is a prime example of a company that's utilizing the Ultimaker S5 as an all-purpose manufacturing machine. We have enjoyed watching the use case evolve over the past year, from safety applications to the creation of fully functional parts for machines that lead to significant savings, and we cannot wait to see what they come up with next."
For additional information on Heineken's use of Ultimaker and to watch the full case study video, please visit ultimaker.com
About Ultimaker
Since 2011, Ultimaker has built an open and easy-to-use solution of 3D printers, software, and materials that enable professional designers and engineers to innovate every day. Today, Ultimaker is the market leader in desktop 3D printing. From offices in the Netherlands, New York, Boston, and Singapore – plus production facilities in Europe and the US – its global team of over 400 employees work together to accelerate the world's transition to local, digital manufacturing. ultimaker.com
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