Use case / DB

DB: Scaling 3D printing usage with fixturemate


The challenge

In 2015, Deutsche Bahn started a company-wide 3D printing program to produce jigs, fixtures, and tooling at maintenance sites nationwide. As more 3D printers were introduced, a shortage of skilled designers created a bottleneck, limiting design capacity to a small group of experts.

The outcome

DB used trinckle's fixturemate software to automate design, enabling more employees to create jigs, fixtures, and custom parts without CAD skills. As a cloud-based tool, fixturemate eliminated the need for specialized hardware and expensive CAD licenses, making it accessible across all DB facilities.

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Location

Berlin, Germany

Industry

Transport and logistics

Size

300,000+

Product

fixturemate

<1 hour

onboarding time

fixturemate enables quick, easy, functional design without CAD skills

<20 mins

design time

An intuitive interface simplifies complex design tasks

80%

reduced manual work

Enabled by a combination of design automation and 3D printing

Improved maintenance procedures

DB provides refreshment services on trains, creating a need for regular maintenance of equipment such as coffee machines. The manual disassembly and reassembly process of equipment is labor-intensive.

Designed in fixturemate, this 3D printed fixture simplifies servicing, making maintenance more efficient. The validated design is shareable and can be 3D printed at any site in a matter of hours.

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Carrier trays for sensitive components

This carrier tray has modular 3D printed components that fit into a fiberglass grid, preventing movement and collisions of delicate items during transit. Each module has a perfect negative of the part for a snug fit, which was created in fixturemate with just a few clicks. 

As a cloud-based application, fixturemate can quickly deploy updates and new features with no effort from the user. To meet DB's needs, a 'grid' baseplate feature was added by the development team, which is now available to any fixturemate user. 

Extending service life of equipment with obsolete parts 

Users can easily design and customize replacement parts, adding features to enhance usability and functionality. For example, custom vacuum cleaner attachments can be tailored and optimized to specific needs through an intuitive interface with adjustable parameters.

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"trinckle's fixturemate software has seamlessly integrated design automation into our additive manufacturing processes for tooling at Deutsche Bahn, particularly for 3D printing assembly fixtures and carrier systems. The software has drastically reduced our design times and costs. Even without special hardware or expertise, the software can be easily used in a web browser by anyone at DB, driving the adoption of additive manufacturing. We look forward to our future projects with trinckle!"
Sven Gaede

Application Engineer, DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung GmbH

Design in minutes, not hours

Using fixturemate, DB has streamlined its design process, cutting part design time from 2-4 hours to under 20 minutes. 

It empowers DB maintenance workers at various sites to independently design and optimize their tools. This allows for quick deployment of improvements, streamlining tasks and enhancing efficiency company-wide.

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