Benefits of 3D printing in automated packaging

With the advent of 3D printing technology being more reliable and precise than ever, more and more production lines are seeking to leverage its unique benefits to decrease lead times, increase flexibility, save costs and boost delivery times. One of the key industries where 3D printing implementation is starting to show its potential is in the packaging industry, while each of the subjects we’ll cover here could easily be expanded into their own individual deep dives, we wanted to provide a holistic view of the main benefits.

Saving Costs

One of the ways 3D printing reduces packaging costs is through the reduced prototyping costs, whereas traditional prototyping often requires either lengthy setups for injection molding or expertise in die-casting, 3D printing allows for fast iterative designs to be created and improved overnight.

Whether we’re talking about custom jigs or bespoke conveyor system parts*, like in our customer Krones’s case, having the possibility to manufacture parts without the need of tooling expertise, limiting expert personnel costs, while simultaneously benefiting from consistently verifiable outputs through Print Process Reporting, which provides detailed post-print reports that help with part validation before deployed, allow for both short term(through reduced material waste) and long term(reduced expert workforce required) cost savings.

Another facet is that 3D printing allows for localized production closer to the end-user. The manufacturing and shipment of replacement maintenance parts, especially over long distances is both costly and ineffective when the end-goal is to ensure optimal production uptime. Having 3D printers such as the Factor 4 available at a local packaging facility would allow replacement parts to be created on demand with minimal material waste and little to no expertise required on the client’s part.

Tying into the localized production, the ability to adaptively 3D print lightweight modular parts for production lines also allows for faster changeover times between packaging formats reducing machine downtimes and labor costs, e.g. switching a packaging inverter for a 3.6oz ice cream minicup to a 16oz pint one.

Simplifying material components 

While the intrinsic aspect of additive manufacturing being that you only use as much material as needed is what most people think of when it comes to part saving, the ability to consolidate multi-part assemblies is often overlooked.

Packaging inserts, one of the most commonly used elements in packaging production lines, are traditionally made of multiple material components(foam, plastic, cardboard etc.) that individually need to be cut, shaped and assembled. 3D printing allows for the consolidation of a packaging insert into one component solution reducing the need for separate materials, assembly steps, machinery and labor involved in the process with the added benefit of a reduced carbon footprint as a result both through the use of durable biodegradable filaments such as the commonly used PLA and vastly reduced material waste.

This also allows the integration of existing packaging solutions for non-standardized product shapes. When it comes to glass bottle manufacturing for example, production of limited-edition bottles with unique sometimes irregular shapes, often use custom foam inserts (which have their own production requirements) to ensure that the integrity of the design is maintained during transit. 3D printed inserts would reduce the need for additional padding or spacers and also allow production lines to use existing storage and transportation solutions like a 24x33cl beverage crate.

End-to-End Process & Knowledge 

Required Circling back to traditional product packaging techniques and manufacturing, we’re starting to see how 3D printing can benefit the entire End-to-End process through the reduced reliance or outright removal of need for experienced engineers and designers required to create and operate complex tooling and molds which often involves specialized software that not only adds to the cost but technical expertise as well.

With 3D printing the design process is accessible through the myriad of CAD softwares available with some versions having a reduced learning curve with the chief advantage being the ability to directly translate a CAD design into a 3D-printed prototype. When exploring packaging options for new products multiple iterations of packaging concepts can be done over night instead of over days or even over multiple weeks. In practice, a single designer with basic CAD knowledge has the possibility of taking a project from concept to a physical prototype faster than with any of the traditional methods currently available.

During assembly, the ability to iterate multiple prototypes quickly and efficiently also allow for less complex setups during the manufacturing phase, for example when testing various designs for bottle labels, 3D printers enable the production of several versions of a label mold in a day allowing for the ability to test multiple iterations without a high overhead.

Flexibility

This all boils down to the core advantage of 3D printers in the package manufacturing space, flexibility.

Whether it’s the ability to adapt packaging lines to different sizes and shapes without the need of retooling, enhancing traditional mold-making for custom packaging with quick on-demand iterations, fixture creation for packaging lines or fast prototyping for packaging design testing, 3D printing allows you to design and implement various solutions at a fraction of the cost, time and downtime that traditional packaging processes require.