Mantle installs three more P-200 AM tooling systems
The machines were purchased by Spectrum Plastics Group, Heyco Products and General Pattern
Mantle, a company specializing in metal 3D printing technology for toolmaking, added three new customers of its P-200 metal 3D printer for tools. These include Spectrum Plastics Group, a DuPont Business; Heyco Products, a Penn Engineering company; and General Pattern. Other existing customers include Westimster Tools, Nicolet Plastics, Westec Plastics Corporation, Tessy Plastics, Fathom and an undisclosed medical device manufacturer, for a total of about a dozen Mantle systems installed globally to date.
“Mantle’s technology remains a game-changer in the toolmaking industry, consistently driving reductions in lead times and costs while addressing labor shortages. The latest deployments, with Spectrum Plastics Group, Heyco, and General Pattern, coupled with the ongoing success of our existing customer, Westminster Tool, underscore the growing adoption and effectiveness of our technology,” said Ted Sorom, CEO and Co-founder of Mantle.
One of the interesting aspects to consider of these deals is that none of the companies that acquired the Mantle systems are additive manufacturing companies. They simply use AM to make tools that they implement in their traditional plastics manufacturing processes. The deal with Spectrum Plastics Group continues the momentum in the field of medical device manufacturing, as the DuPont Business will be implementing the company’s metal 3D printing technology within its facilities. Heyco Products, a Penn Engineering company specializing in wire protection and termination for a range of industries, has implemented Mantle’s metal 3D printing technology into its toolmaking workflows. As a leading manufacturer of thousands of complex plastic and metal components, high-quality tooling is critical to Heyco’s success.
“At Heyco, we pride ourselves on taking products from design through to volume production, which includes in-house prototype and production tooling. Mantle allows us to increase our toolmaking capacity and project speed by automating a portion of our toolmaking process, helping to maximize our skilled resources,” said Danny Anthony, Vice President of Operations at Heyco Products
Across manufacturing as a whole, especially in toolmaking, labor scarcity has emerged as a predominant challenge, hindering manufacturers’ efficiency and capacity to build tooling.
Recognizing the growing scarcity of skilled toolmakers, General Pattern, an injection molder with in-house tooling services and more than 100 years of experience is addressing the labor issue by introducing Mantle’s 3D printer to automate its toolmaking processes and bolster capacity. The investment in Mantle underscores the company’s dedication to cutting-edge technologies and highlights its potential to alleviate the industry’s labor shortage. General Pattern anticipates the benefits of this investment to include heightened efficiency, decreased reliance on specialized labor, and improved customer service through faster and more efficient operations.
“Introducing Mantle into our operations has elevated our approach to toolmaking. With the simple press of a button, we can now effortlessly create tools, that completely change our ability to tackle labor challenges and enhance our capacity to better serve our customers. Recently with a slide for a transportation trim component, for example, we skipped the finishing process entirely. Instead, we printed it, assembled it into the mold, and immediately began molding parts. This not only saved us the 40 hours of traditional toolmaker time typically required to build this slide but also freed up my team to focus on other critical projects,” said Denny Reiland, CEO at General Pattern.
