Case Study: Xerox achieves 98% cost savings and 97% faster production with Proto3000's FDM tooling

Xerox - Customer Case Study

Xerox needed 350 modified cable connectors for a low-volume printer that required a longer cable and minor geometry changes, but the connector supplier’s 1 million-unit minimum made repr tooling impossible. After a slow, imprecise hand-modification attempt, Xerox engaged Proto3000 for 3D printing (FDM) tooling to support and accelerate the modification process.

Proto3000 produced FDM tooling—an exact negative support, a two-piece blade holder for four X‑Acto blades, and a guide body—so an operator could punch out 350 connectors in about an hour. Using Proto3000’s FDM tooling cost $268 and took 5.5 hours versus $7,200/120 hours by hand or $11,450/200 hours with steel-rule dies, saving $11,182 (98%) and 194.5 hours (97%), and enabling Xerox to move the printer to market and start generating revenue ahead of competitors.

Xerox

Duane Byerley

Senior Model Maker