Case Study: JBH Innovations achieves drastic prototype time and cost reductions with ExOne 3D metal printing

Drastically Reduce Time & Costs for Prototype Manufacturing

JBH Innovations faced a costly, time-consuming prototype process for hand tools—creating locking-pliers prototypes with traditional waterjet/EDM/CNC and form tooling took 8–9 months and $20,000–$30,000 in initial costs. To accelerate development and enable on-the-fly changes, JBH turned to ExOne and its 3D metal printing technology for functional prototype parts.

ExOne printed full working prototypes directly from CAD, eliminating expensive tooling and enabling rapid iterations; lead time dropped to 3–4 weeks and initial prototype cost to $1,900. Design revisions that once cost thousands and added weeks or months now cost only hundreds and take days, demonstrating ExOne’s measurable impact on time and cost savings.

JBH Innovations

Jeffrey Hile

Engineer/Inventor