- Konu Başlıkları
- Time Savings
- Outsole Prototypes
- SLA vs CNC
3D printing is used in different sectors from automotive to aviation, from health to education, and in recent years it has become widespread in the footwear industry. While the impact of 3D printing on the footwear industry is huge, its development is also quite astonishing. We will examine and elaborate on how one of China's biggest shoe brands uses SLA 3D printing at the center of its design process.
Qiaodan is one of the most popular sports shoe brands in China with annual sales of over 4 billion Yuan. Like all other shoe brands, Qiaodan needs to develop new products and designs to stay current in this competitive market. 3D printing comes into play to make the design process efficient.
The advantages of 3D printing are used by breaking away from the prototyping method of traditional methods, which is not very fast. In the shoe industry, it is necessary to produce physical models of the outsole (the rubber sole of the shoe) before deciding whether to go into production. Although the old epoxy models were detailed, they had several disadvantages. The long-lasting production phase made the process longer. Therefore, delays and uncertainties were too much. Production, which took more than 2 weeks without 3D printers, was reduced to 20 hours thanks to the 3D printer. The entire process, including the finishing process, was completed in a maximum of 2 or 3 days.
Time Savings
For manufacturers like Qiaodan, time saving in production is very important. Waiting for weeks to see a prototype design is quite annoying, and the time loss is even greater if revisions are required. Even in the best case, it can take more than a week for corrections to reach the design team. This has a twofold negative effect. First, product development can take longer than originally planned. In this case, the product that should be on the shelves in the summer or winter season may be delayed. Second, design changes can be difficult in the case of revisions. Therefore, it is possible to progress from traditional and limited designs.
SLA printing has a significant advantage in the design process. No matter how complex the structure design or the texture of the design, the software can directly complete the modeling and transfer the modeling file to the printing hardware for rapid prototyping.
Outsole Prototypes
Another important benefit of 3D printing for Qiaodan is the ability to run the entire design process in-house. CNC machines are heavy, costly, and require expert operators, so it doesn’t make sense to make such a large investment just to produce low-volume prototypes. Having the entire process under one roof means Qiaodan has full control over quality. Outsourcing suppliers don’t always meet expectations, and communication problems are hard to avoid. When a 3D printer is installed in a factory, the people who produce the model are also the same people who designed it, further simplifying the process and reducing the likelihood of errors.
SLA vs CNC
Comparison of CNC prototype and 3D printed prototype
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