East/West Industries Fortus 450mc FDM Case Study
Download the case-study PDF to review the application context, workflow decisions, and implementation considerations.
Key Takeaways
- CNC Capacity Relief: The Fortus 450mc allowed East/West to print workholding fixtures instead of machining them, reducing pressure on CNC resources used for customer parts.
- Documented Tooling Gains: The source reports average reductions of two days in tool production time, 50% in tool cost and two weeks in overall product readiness.
- Nylon 12CF Production Support: Carbon fiber FDM Nylon 12CF was used for soft jaws, a replacement forming tool and other manufacturing aids tied to shop-floor needs.
Executive Summary
East/West Industries operates in the part of the aerospace supply chain where delivery performance, machining capacity and first-time quality all affect the larger programs it supports. The source case study describes the company as a manufacturer of products that help save aircrew lives for aerospace customers including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. As demand grew, its CNC machine shop became a constraint because the same machining resources used for customer parts were also being used to make workholding tools.
The operating problem was practical and familiar to many manufacturers: more work required more fixtures, more programming, more machine time and more skilled operators. Buying another CNC machine was possible, but the case study explains why that was not the preferred route. CNC equipment is space and capital intensive, and experienced operators can be difficult to find. East/West had already introduced additive manufacturing, but its existing printer did not meet the requirements for the workholding applications the team wanted to address.
The company selected a Stratasys Fortus 450mc with broader capacity and material options, including carbon fiber FDM Nylon 12CF. The immediate use case was not decorative prototyping. It was production support: printed workholding fixtures and soft jaws that could reduce pressure on CNC equipment and allow those machines to focus on value-added parts. The full case study shows how this decision affected tool production time, tooling cost and product readiness, while also extending into other shop-floor uses.
For buyers considering additive manufacturing as an operational tool, the useful point is the application logic. East/West did not treat the printer as a standalone technology purchase. It identified a bottleneck, selected a machine and material route around that bottleneck, and used the platform for workholding, replacement forming tools, surrogate parts, prototypes, concept models and manufacturing aids. The downloadable case study gives the detailed examples behind that shift and shows why additive manufacturing can be most useful when it is tied to a specific production constraint.