Case Study: Cobalt Enterprises reduces scrap and accelerates growth with 3D Systems' GibbsCAM

Job Shop Pins Growth on GibbsCAM

Cobalt Enterprises, founded by Fred Schule in 2004, is a job shop built on a strategy of standardization, quality equipment, and in-house training. As the shop took on more complex, short-run work — including multi-spindle, live-tooling turning/milling and fragile, thin-walled parts — it faced challenges in programming speed, toolpath accuracy and avoiding scrap and chatter on new Mori Seiki machines.

Cobalt standardized on GibbsCAM and added the GibbsCAM MTM module, coupled with SolidWorks modeling and operator training, to combine turning and milling into single programs and verify cuts with Cut Part Rendering. The result was far faster, more accurate setups and dramatically lower scrap (about 98% first-pass success), enabling same-day deliveries, rapid growth to $2.4M in revenue, a 30-person, three-shift operation, and an expansion to a larger facility.

Cobalt Enterprises

Zach Johnson

Senior Programmer