Toivalan Metalli: Significant Cost and Time Savings with the Markforged X7 Printer

The Customer

Since its establishment in 1978, Toivalan Metalli has steadfastly Obeyed its mission statement. The company approaches every metalworking task with the same commitment, regardless of size, demonstrating both the capability and adaptability required to fulfill clients’ needs for custom components. Their comprehensive suite of services includes laser cutting, pipe bending, welding, and various other specialized processes. Toivalan Metalli serves diverse Customers, including construction and elevator companies, as well as manufacturers in the machinery, weather protection, and furniture industries.

Toivalan is a well-established Finnish machine enterprise whose main customers are the machinery manufacturing sector, construction firms, and the mining industry. They always work to improve and change their ways of doing things. They've been doing this for many years.

They firmly place customer orientation at the core of their organization, and for their people, which primarily Encompasses a genuine desire to listen to customers and offer versatile service, quality, and reliability.

The Challenge

Their solutions partner, Vossi Group, created a viable solution that would both enable their independence and control the replacement of steel tooling for process and design validation.

A major factor in surviving and thriving in today’s service industry is the ability to stay up to date with production equipment and its development. Toivalan Metalli has always invested in new manufacturing equipment. Recently, they've spent a lot on versatile machines like fiber lasers, disk grinders, and CNC pipe benders. These upgrades have taken their business to a whole new level.

Even though they bought new, top-of-the-line machines, there was still a big problem to solve: handling small, custom projects. Each job often needed a special bending tool, which could make the part cost up to €4,000 because they had to buy these tools from big suppliers. This not only made things expensive but also slowed down projects because they had to wait for these tools to arrive, causing delays.

“Before introducing additive manufacturing (AM), when customers asked us to make a special radius, there was a lot of guesswork involved, and occasionally we had to reject the project. Now, we’ve completely shifted our way of looking at requests. We can easily prototype and see if it works with the pipe. We even use it for end-use parts."

– – Toni Pasanen MANAGER, WELDING SHOP TOIVALAN METALLI

The Solution

Tool diameter, wall thickness, and radius*

Instead of paying a premium for low-use steel prototypes, Toivalan Metalli now can print tools on their Markforged X7 printer. These tools are tough enough to handle many bending jobs before they need to buy the final die. Initially, they expected these custom tools to last for about ten bending jobs. But by changing the design and adding standard hardware, they now last for nearly 500 jobs, bending steel tubes with a 25-30mm diameter, 1.5mm thickness, and a bend radius of 70mm.

Toivalan Metalli primarily uses its X7 to produce tube-bending tools. Previously they used to buy these tools from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for about €4,000 each, and it took up to six weeks to get them.

Before they started using the X7, Toivalan Metalli used to order about four different tools every year. They only accepted big jobs that needed lots of parts to cover the high cost of these tools. But now, they can print their prototype bending tools when they need them, even for small jobs. Printing these tools on the X7 has brought down the cost per part a lot, to between €300 and €400, and they can get them in just one week at most.

“The threshold is minimal. The X7 is simple to use, and basic training can be completed in just one day."

– – Toni Pasanen MANAGER, WELDING SHOP TOIVALAN METALLI

Conclusion

The main benefits of Toivalan Metalli include:*

• 90% Cost Savings: By utilizing their X7 printer to produce their tools, they've significantly reduced expenses, leading to substantial cost savings.
• Huge Lead Time Reductions: With the management of their digital inventory, they've experienced significant reductions in lead times, allowing for faster turnaround on projects.
• Reduced Reaction Time to Custom Requests: The ability to quickly print custom tools in-house has led to faster responses to custom requests, enhancing customer satisfaction.
• New Revenue Streams for Low-Production Runs: By being able to efficiently handle low-volume production with their X7 printer, Toivalan Metalli has opened up new revenue opportunities, enabling them to take on projects they might have previously turned down due to cost constraints.

“There is no way around Markforged. This is the most coherent system on the market. We received a complete solution in the field of 3D printing. We can fully focus on our core business and use the added value of the technology."

– Jörg Kuchenmeister MANAGING DIRECTOR VOGEL DRUCK

The Future

Toivalan Metalli continues to push the envelope with the help of the Digital Forge. They’ve also increased the strength of their printed tools by embedding bolts into the design and reinforcing them with continuous carbon fiber.

By introducing additive manufacturing, Toivalan Metalli has been able to attract more small-scale businesses. In the three years since they got the printer, they've earned tens of thousands of euros in extra business and revenue. They couldn't have done this before because they couldn't make custom tools.

The X7 printer will continue to enable  Toivalan Metalli to provide better solutions for their customers. They can quickly respond to requests and make a variety of high-quality parts. This means their customers can get parts that are hard to find elsewhere and get them faster and at a significantly lower cost, without compromising on quality.

So, what does the future look like for Toivalan Metalli? This skilled Finnish trailblazer plans to bring even more new tools to their workshop, including press brake tooling welding fixtures, and much more.