Case Study: Wirco achieves faster deliveries and flexible sand-core production with ExOne S-Max Pro

Faster Deliveries and Flexible Production with Binder Jetting

Wirco, a U.S. foundry based in Champaign, Illinois, faced long lead times and high tooling costs for low-volume and unique ferrous metalcastings and core production. To bring flexible, faster production in-house and reduce dependence on external pattern shops, Wirco invested in sand binder jetting—specifically an ExOne S-Max Pro binder jetting system.

Using ExOne’s S-Max Pro, Wirco now 3D prints sand molds and cores directly from design files, producing what used to be a week’s worth of traditional cores in about 18 hours and running an average of four job boxes per week lights-out. ExOne’s solution eliminated multi-piece core assembly and related quality claims, cut engineering and lead times (from roughly 10–12 weeks toward the company’s target timeline), freed labor for higher-value work, improved safety, and is already driving a faster-than-expected ROI for Wirco.

Wirco

Derek Steidinger

Plant Manager