Case Study: Design Reality achieves overnight prototype production with Stratasys PolyJet

PolyJet Allows Company to Move From Design to Prototype Production Overnight

Design Reality, a Northern Wales product development firm that designs respirators and other gear for firefighters and military use, faced slow, costly prototype production because functional silicone parts required CNC‑machined molds—e.g., a digital pressure gauge (DPG) protective boot mold could take three days and revisions added weeks. The company needed a faster, lower‑cost way to produce final‑material prototypes for testing and validation.

Stratasys suggested using PolyJet on Design Reality’s existing Objet 3D Printer to 3D‑print silicone molds overnight; using Stratasys’ PolyJet technology reduced the DPG boot process to 4 hours design + 2 hours print (6 hours total), a 75% time savings versus CNC, cut mold cost in half, and produced molds durable enough for about 50 functional parts—enabling rapid iterations and much shorter development cycles.

Design Reality

Graham Wilson

Director