[3D Printing Application] We're recruiting 50 amazing teammates! Working tirelessly to meet the delivery deadline!

[3D Printing Application] We're recruiting 50 amazing teammates! Working tirelessly to meet the delivery deadline!



Florenradica is a design company located near Florence, Italy, that creates prototypes and accessories for fashion companies. Its broad clientele covers a wide range of product categories, including shoes, heels, bags, buttons, jewelry accessories, and more.
With a background in traditional woodworking, the company found it very challenging for the fashion industry to handle large orders; they decided to explore new manufacturing methods that would reduce physical labor while maintaining product detail and quality.

Transitioning from traditional manufacturing to digital manufacturing

After learning about 3D printing online, Florenradica explored it further and discovered that 3D printing could achieve products that CNC machines couldn't. Because high-precision printing times ranged from 6 to 60 hours, a stable printer with consistent output quality was needed. Florenradica tried several different brands of FFF 3D printers , but each required extensive maintenance and repeated adjustments to achieve stable quality.



They chose the Ultimaker 3D printer , invested in their first Ultimaker 2+, and found that the finished products were more accurate and reliable. A few years later, they expanded their equipment, adding 27 Ultimaker 2+ , 13 Ultimaker 3 , and two Ultimaker S5 printers to their workbench.



"With 3D printers , we can finally produce items that were previously impossible," explains Marco Marshall, a production engineer at Florenradica. "We did a lot of comparisons and evaluated many systems before deciding on the production equipment, and the Ultimaker printer has the most suitable features for us: reliability, high quality, and dual printheads."

Local manufacturing

Each Florenradica project is created in-house by the design team using CAD software, with the printed items prepared using Cura software and sent to the printer. Because each Ultimaker printer is certified for secure automation, it can operate reliably 24/7 without human intervention.





Choosing the right materials

Material selection is a crucial factor in the design process, requiring consideration not only of the technical characteristics of each component but also of the stability of the printing process. Designs often feature complex geometries, necessitating supporting materials, post-processing, and drawing. Florenradica has experimented with various plastics, such as HIPS and PLA from different suppliers, but with less than ideal results.





The switch to Ultimaker PLA provided Florenradica with more reliable results, allowing them to use water-soluble PVA support materials for easier post-processing. With the increased workload resulting from their expanded equipment, Florenradica now uses approximately 60 kg of PLA per month.
After printing, the object and supporting material are dissolved in warm water (or cold water, but it takes longer) to preserve the complete surface. The sample is then finished by sanding, applying a primer and spraying color, followed by a glossy finish.



While not completely abandoning traditional woodworking, Ultimaker 3D printing now accounts for 40% of Florenradica's total sales, used for 95% of final parts and 5% of prototypes. Using a 3D printing studio allows Florenradica to print dozens of different prototypes simultaneously, producing at least one hundred different items daily. This provides greater flexibility in the rapid prototyping process and allows for better control over product delivery dates.



With the addition of the Ultimaker S5 to their workbench, they are able to print larger volumes, allowing objects that previously had to be printed in segments to now be printed as a single piece.
FFF technology has helped us improve production time and increase orders, so we just purchased our 50th Ultimaker 3D printer in June 2018!



Interested? Own your own Ultimaker printer now to meet your business needs and increase profits! If you are interested in the machine, please call to schedule an appointment or refer to our other articles; if you also have products that you want printed, we also provide high-quality printing services .
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Original link: https://ultimaker.com/en/stories/52707-producing-customized-fashion-solutions-with-ultimaker-3d-printers