Case Study: J.W. Speaker achieves 78%–89% time savings and $60K–$75K cost savings with Stratasys F3300 3D printing

JW Speaker Cuts Fixture Lead Times and Costs with F3300 3D Printing

J.W. Speaker, a high-performance lighting manufacturer founded in 1935, faced costly, time-consuming production of large, heavy-duty fixtures (like automation pallets and photometry fixtures) that were traditionally machined from aluminum; with an annual need of about 150 pallets the company sought more control, faster turnaround, and a more economical fabrication method and turned to Stratasys for a 3D printing solution.

Stratasys printed the fixtures on its F3300 FDM system using FDM Nylon 12CF, whose large build chamber and carbon-fiber–reinforced material provided the necessary size, strength, and rigidity. The Stratasys solution cut lead times dramatically (9 hours versus one week in-house — a 78% time savings — and 9 hours versus two weeks outsourced — an 89% savings) and reduced costs by roughly $60k–$75k annually ($50k–$60k on pallets and $10k–$15k on photometry fixtures), while enabling faster design iterations and production control.

J.W. Speaker