Wilson Sporting Goods Develops More Agile Manufacturing Processes With 3D Printing
Wilson Sporting Goods is advancing its product development capabilities by tapping 3D printing technology to innovate across materials, technology, and design.
Glen Mason, director of advanced manufacturing, gives CGT a deeper look into the technology being leveraged to create product molds that reduce manufacturing errors and streamline workflows. Wilson uses the tech to develop products and equipment for tennis, baseball, padel, football, basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and golf.
Finding the Right Tech
Wilson was searching for advanced mold-making technology that promised new workflows. The EDM (electric discharging machine) and computer numerical control (CNC) solutions available, however, often came at a high cost of needing to increase the number of skills and inputs instead of simply making molds faster.
Enter freeform injection molding (FIM) 3D printing technology, a digital workflow with fewer inputs that requires a lower skill level for designing and building products. Ultimately, this made it easier and less expensive to test and make increasingly complex shapes and items.
“We are also able to digitally adjust shrinkage so we can try multiple materials and get the same size output,” says Mason. “Ultimately, production resources will be the hidden winners because the designs going forward are more robust, which leads to better yields and fewer manufacturing problems.”
The real benefit, according to Mason, is in showing the potential of molded parts in varying materials, colors, and configurations and what they could transform into — and being able to quickly respond to real-world outputs related to market fluctuations.
The company has partnered with Nexa3D for this effort, giving Wilson more flexibility in its research and development process.
Breaking the Mold on Materials
When looking to invest in metal replacements, the company found that there would ultimately be problems with assembly, flash, and pressure retention in the mold. Working with more flexible materials like xMold allows the company to develop designs with a simplified manufacturing process, which requires less time to build.
“It costs just as much to make a metal mold for a part you don't want, but you usually don't know it's a failure until after the mold is built,” he said. “Avoiding waste in the design and build processes is the cost-benefit while unlocking more designs earlier in the process that results in faster technology delivery to our markets is the revenue benefit.”
It’s a win-win for consumers and manufacturers alike when the process is more agile and manufacturers are willing to take risks, he added.
Advice for Future Implementations
For those looking to improve their product development speed, Mason says it’s important to look at new technologies not just through the lens of what they do, but instead what they enable — keeping the mindset solution-specific.
When innovating with new technologies, however, he warns that considering how to scale new processes is essential.
“I see too many situations where there are trade-offs or redevelopment work when going from early testing to scale production,” he says, adding that FIM expedites the process at Wilson, allowing the company to have more confidence in the full-scale production even in the sampling phase during R&D.
For those interested in moving forward with a similar strategy, Wilson helps non-competitive companies benchmark this technology by creating proof of concept parts in their chosen material.
"This relatively low-cost service is a win for Nexa3D — system and material sales; a win for the original equipment manufacturer — getting real-world testable parts quickly; and a win for Wilson — exposure to new materials and concepts, and a larger user community to help improve the technology," says Mason.
"It's hard to be an expert on everything and, in my opinion, cross-company collaboration is going to be more common in the future. I think that companies need to start looking at how they can win as a team of aligned interests instead of going it alone into an uncertain future that is more complex and more expensive to navigate," he added.
