Case Study: Christie Digital Systems achieves rapid, lower-cost, higher-fidelity prototyping with Stratasys hybrid FDM and PolyJet 3D printing

Christie Digital Mixes 3D Printing Technologies to Optimize Products

Christie Digital Systems, a maker of advanced digital projectors and displays for cinema, simulation, VR and large-audience environments, needed a faster, more flexible prototyping approach to “build, test, optimize” designs and hit first-ship quality for demanding customers. To support rapid iteration across concept and functional testing, Christie turned to Stratasys and its additive manufacturing platforms, using both FDM Technology and PolyJet (including Connex printers) to produce durable thermoplastic parts and finely detailed, rubberlike overmolds.

Stratasys’ FDM and PolyJet solutions let Christie iterate daily, produce functional prototypes (e.g., ULTEM 9085 and PPSF parts) and replace expensive tooling cycles—reducing a single-iteration cost from $26,000 to $10,800 and lead time from 11.5 weeks to 2.5 weeks (savings of $15,200 / 58% and 9 weeks / 78%). In one example, a remote control that would have cost $2,000 and two weeks per revision by rubber molding was revised three times in three days for under $500 using Stratasys PolyJet, enabling faster design validation and new business services through Christie’s Hyphen prototyping arm.

Christie Digital Systems

Mark Barfoot

Senior Manager