Case Study: Unilever achieves 50% faster design iterations with Stratasys 3D printing

Consumer Goods Giant Unilever Iterates 50 Percent Faster with 3D Printing

Unilever’s Italian R&D facility in Caselpusterlengo needed to speed up and reduce the cost of prototype and part development as its product portfolio evolved rapidly. To move away from slow, outsourced tooling, Unilever partnered with Stratasys and deployed the Stratasys Objet500 Connex 3D Printer (and complemented it with a Fortus 360mc) to produce injection, blow and thermoform molds in-house.

Using Stratasys solutions—Objet500 Connex with Digital ABS for high‑temperature injection/blow/thermoform tools and a Fortus 360mc with ABS‑M30 for production‑grade thermoforming—Unilever achieved 50% faster iterations, a 40% reduction in development turnaround, prototypes in final materials up to 40% faster, and thermoforming lead times cut by about 35%. Mold costs fell to roughly 20% of traditional metal tooling (≈€800–€1,000 vs €4–5K), enabling quicker consumer testing and lower R&D expense.

Unilever

Stefano Cademartiri

R&D, CAP and Prototyping Specialist