Pitney Bowes Gets Its ‘OfficeRight’ With 3D Systems Introduction Pitney Bowes Inc. is a $4.1 billion global provider of mail and document management solutions, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The company’s products are used by over two million businesses of all sizes across the world. Pitney Bowes UK is based in Harlow, Essex. The company is using the Vanguard™ SLS® system from 3D Systems to automatically build from 3-D CAD data fully functional rapid prototype parts during product development. In the development of the OfficeRight Mailer, the SLS system was a major contributor to a three-month – in this case 20% – time reduction in the design process, and a considerable reduction in development costs. Molding and Folding Pitney Bowes offers a range of products and services to improve the rate at which mail is processed. Its range of digital franking machines, envelope printers, folders and inserters, scales and copiers are used across the globe. Until recently Pitney Bowes’ products were all designed and built using metal machinery and from metal components. However, for the design of the OfficeRight Mailer, the decision was made to design the machine almost entirely in plastic. Chris Ramm, Toolroom Manager, Pitney Bowes explains: “Not only was the decision to move into plastics a big one for us, but the OfficeRight product was our first move into the desktop market. Rather than being large-scale, high output equipment, this is the sort of product that can be sold in an office equipment retail outlet.” Previously, besides working in metal, the design team at Pitney Bowes UK were used to employing third-party bureaus to produce prototype parts. While effective and accurate in the long run, this had a number of downsides. For OfficeRight, the company made another major decision - to bring as much of the design process as possible in-house by investing in SLS™ (selective laser sintering) technology from 3D Systems. "We achieved everything we set out to….since purchasing the SLS system…, including faster prototype production, the ability to produce usable parts with different materials, and the ability to make major design changes and leave them to build on the system overnight.”                                      Chris Ramm, Toolroom Manager, Pitney Bowes With SLS technology, three-dimensional components are produced on the SLS system from DuraForm® PA powder. A CO2 laser beam sinters each of the powder layers and builds up, layer-by-layer, precise parts with the finest surface structure. Driven by Pitney Bowes’ CAD data, the laser beam heats the powder layer to melting. The process is performed in additive layers, whereby the working platform is moved in the Z-axis. The system is designed for production of thermo-mechanically resilient functional prototypes. “One big bugbear for us with third-party bureaus was lead-time, especially with complex and large parts,” continues Ramm. “The parts could take up to 10 days to get back to the design team. With our own SLS system the parts can be designed one day and be in the designer’s hands the next.” It has been estimated that purchasing the SLS system shed three months off the OfficeRight design project. Instead of waiting two to three weeks for large parts, the designers could have them for review in two to three days. “There’s also the question of control. Having the system in-house meant that the development team working on OfficeRight felt that they had full control over the design process.” With the SLS system the Pitney Bowes team also took control of the functionality testing of a number of crucial parts. Plastic gears, housing components, and all sliding parts that transport paper through the machine were built and tested on the SLS system. Those parts were then mounted on the prototype OfficeRight machine and tested on short- and long-run full functional tests including folding, inserting and sealing 15 letters per minute. In fact, the test rigs contained more SLS parts than vacuum molded parts in order to make them as fully functional as possible. Rapid Implementation, Rapid Prototyping Once the justification proposal presented by Jim Webster, Principal Manufacturing Engineer, at Pitney Bowes UK had been accepted by corporate headquarters in the U.S., the search for the correct partner began. Jim Webster explains, "Price was never really an issue as all companies’ prices were comparable. The most important requirements for us were speed, reliability, accuracy and part strength. The Vanguard SLS system was more flexible, and we could produce parts in a wider range of materials. This was important for us at the time as we were also considering using LaserForm™ metal material to manufacture injection mold tool inserts. "We worked with different companies but found 3D Systems to be incredibly cooperative when producing sample parts. Also, the samples we produced were assessed for part quality and dimensional accuracy. The parts produced on the Vanguard SLS system were assessed as the best overall. They were put into OfficeRight test rigs in the subsystem development phase and proved to be invaluable in qualifying the design concept. Over the evaluation period we also found the SLS system from 3D Systems to be quicker and more accurate than its nearest competitor." Time pressures on the OfficeRight production schedule were high. The SLS system was delivered and installed in Harlow in just two weeks. All users then received one week of training, and the system was fully operational and producing parts in three weeks. Signed, Sealed and Delivered It has been estimated that purchasing the SLS system shed three months off the OfficeRight design project. Instead of waiting two to three weeks for large parts, the designers could have them for review in two to three days. The Pitney Bowes team also found they were realizing approximately 50 percent cost savings from outsourcing bigger parts to third-party bureaus. The larger prototype parts had been costing between £3,000-4,000 ($5,000-6,000 U.S.) per part. “We’ve seen extensive benefits since purchasing the SLS system,” says Chris Ramm. “We achieved everything we set out to, including faster prototype production, the ability to produce usable parts with different materials, and the ability to make major design changes and leave them to build on the system overnight.” There were also a number of unexpected advantages, as Chris Ramm explains: “The designers just couldn’t believe that we could turn parts around so quickly. There were 12 contract engineers, three lead engineers, and 30 people on the mechanical team at the height of the design time. We all had visibility over the parts that were being made. This would never have been achievable with an outsourced solution.” “The ability to make parts quickly, and more importantly to use them, was a godsend to the designers. Such was the accuracy and reliability of the parts that we found ourselves using SLS parts very late on in the design process.” Post-Production Jim Webster reiterates that the move into plastic, combined with the move into the desktop market, was equally as bold a move as the decision to purchase the SLS system. “Quite understandably, everyone took a short-term view when looking to invest in SLS technology,” says Webster. “When seeking approval for expenditure, justifying the equipment was a challenge. Final approval was based upon predicted cost savings, which was a difficult task to prove given that no parts had yet been designed. However, after installation, the predicted business case cost savings were found to be pessimistic, and benefits in lead time, flexibility and response were immediate. Such was the demand, the machine ran 7 days a week for the first 12 months.”