Case Study: MSA Safety Inc. speeds up product development with ExOne metal binder jetting

Metal Binder Jetting Speeds Up Product Development at MSA

MSA Safety Inc., a global leader in industrial safety equipment, needed a way to rapidly iterate metal parts—especially structural components for self-retracting lifeline devices—to cut development time, reduce costs, and shorten time to market. MSA turned to ExOne’s metal binder jetting service, using the X1 25Pro® metal 3D printer and ExOne’s Quick Ship service to produce prototypes in 316L stainless steel.

ExOne delivered quick-turn prototype and small-batch metal parts (over 500 parts for MSA since 2016), supplying parts in under two weeks versus typical tooling lead times of 16+ weeks and avoiding roughly $10,000 in tooling costs. That speed let MSA run about 100 prototype iterations (≈200 parts) and a follow-up 20-part run after design changes, enabling faster design validation, reduced costs, and a significantly accelerated product development cycle.

MSA

Matthew Jacob

Mechanical Engineer