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Michelin Molding Solutions (MMS), based in Greenville, South Carolina, has purchased its second AddUp FormUp 350 Powder Bed Fusion machine following the successful installation and operation of its first in 2022. This machine is the sixth added to a global fleet of FormUp systems in use across Europe and North America.
AddUp says that thanks to the productivity and serial production capabilities of its 3D printers, each new FormUp 350 replaces five legacy AM machines.
MMS is Michelin’s worldwide division for the production of tire curing moulds, with locations in Europe, Asia, and North America. MMS supplies moulds to Michelin’s tire manufacturing plants around the world.
Michelin demands complex tire geometries that can’t always be produced with traditional manufacturing processes. MMS has used metal 3D printing for almost two decades to meet these demands.
Read more: Thales deploys AddUp 350 in Morocco metal 3D printing facility
MMS has chosen AddUp’s FormUp 350 for its high productivity, quality output and ‘cutting edge technology’ for safe management of metal powder according to the company.
“MMS is very pleased with the productivity and quality achievable on AddUp’s FormUp 350. This level of productivity allowed us to decommission older and less productive 3D printers. We’ve seen improvements in the cleanliness and safety of our operations and our operators very much appreciate its ease of use from build plate programming to machine set up and the machine user interface,” said Glen Nelson, Technical Development Manager at MMS.
AddUp claims that one FormUp 350 can manufacture the quality of tire mould inserts which previously required five metal 3D printers and can achieve it faster and more reliably. By industrialising metal 3D printing, AddUp says that MMS has been able to produce millions of mould sipe inserts over the past twenty years with increasingly sophisticated shapes to improve traction and wear over the life of the tire.
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The AddUp FormUp 350
