At ETT Verpackungstechnik, ongoing development work in the Research & Development department is focused on improving machine efficiency, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. A recent example illustrates how additive manufacturing is being applied directly to production components.
Using an in-house FDM 3D printer, the team produced new tray corners from high-performance polymers. The additive manufacturing approach allows components to be prototyped rapidly, refined iteratively, and evaluated during live test runs — significantly compressing the development cycle compared to conventional part sourcing.
The main operational advantages of this approach are lower material costs, geometries optimized for smooth and reliable machine operation, and full in-house production that eliminates external supplier dependencies and reduces lead times. The use of thermoplastic materials also supports recyclability at end of life. Because components are produced internally, they can be adapted quickly across different machine variants or modified to meet specific customer requirements.
A first successful test run of the new tray corners and their assembly on one of ETT’s packaging machines has been completed.