When you’re one of the largest beverage and brewing companies in the world, and a filler gear fails on the line, time is money. SDI 3D-scanned the part, converted it to SolidWorks, researched the spur gear teeth, analyzed the plastic material, and produced engineered ‘prints’.
Ordering a gear replacement from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for a machine that could not function without the replacement was estimated to take up to 12 weeks, with a cost of over $12,000. Scanned data was used to duplicate the gear, including the gear tooth modifications, to ensure complete and accurate duplication.
In the end, SDI reduced the lead time to 4–5 weeks. Additionally, the cost to scan and ‘print’ the new gear was only $2,096— a near $10,000 savings over the OEM cost to replace the plastic spur gear!
This was truly a team effort. To deliver for this important client, we relied on our SDI-approved gear-cutting, bidding and costing partners. Everyone working together like a well-oiled machine made this success possible. SDI has re-engineered five other parts on this filler as well.
The success of those parts is what led to this client allowing SDI to re-engineer this extremely critical spur gear for them. Now, they fully trust the 3D scanners, thanks to SDI’s hard work and dedication to success.
