Field: Office furniture design and manufacturing
Technologies Used: Large-format FDM 3D printing (BigRep ONE printer, 1:1 scale functional prototype production)
About the Project
Steelcase is one of the world's largest commercial furniture manufacturing companies. When developing new furniture models, the traditional prototype manufacturing process required significant time and financial resources, and decision-making was often delayed because full-scale models were only produced at a late stage of the design process. The company's goal was to accelerate new product time-to-market and optimize design testing processes.
Engineering and Manufacturing Solutions
To streamline design development, the company implemented a large-format 3D printer, the BigRep ONE, at its innovation center in Munich:
1:1 scale prototypes: The ability to print seamless 1:1 volume parts allows designers to immediately evaluate true furniture proportions, assembly possibilities, and ergonomics.
Functional testing and upholstery measurement: Printed chair or bench body parts possess sufficient mechanical strength to withstand human weight. This allows fitting and testing of upholstery, seams, and padding before manufacturing industrial molds.
Rapid iteration management: Designers can print and compare several different versions of the same design directly from CAD files in a short time.
Results Achieved
Drastically reduced production time: A functional chair body prototype was printed in 4 days, whereas traditional methods would have taken approximately 2 months.
Reduced subcontracting costs: 2–3 weeks of time saved that would have been required for ordering parts from external suppliers.
Lower material costs: Using BigRep technology, material costs by weight are more than 80% lower compared to other large 3D printer manufacturers on the market.
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