Additive Manufacturing's Recipe for Innovation in Confectionaries
The Challenge
A startup confectionary company wanted to create personalized candies for a variety of purposes, like special events or corporate outings. To make their products, they needed to create custom molds for silicone casting.
Traditionally, molds are created with aluminum machining, nickel-plating, and silicone casting. This process was out of scope for the startup as it was too costly and too time intensive to be used for customized products.
The Solution
The confectionary start up worked with Henkel to improve their workflow and explore the possibilities to using Additive Manufacturing to create custom molds that would be nickel-plated to meet FDA standard. Together, they were determined that LOCTITE 3D 3843 HD60 High Impact would be the best fit for their application, as it offers outstanding toughness and a surface finish suitable for electroplating.
Benefit
Reduced lead time from four weeks to two days
Cost reduction from €10,000 to €500(compared to outsourced machining)
Enables production customization and small batch production
