FMI BI’s journey to composites and metal printing with Markforged
Founded in 1968, FMI Building Innovation (BI) is one of New Zealand’s leading innovators, manufacturers, and suppliers of world-class building solutions for a wide range of residential and commercial customers. With its headquarters and main manufacturing site in Auckland and additional production facilities in Christchurch, the company employs more than 250 staff.
FMI BI’s first involvement with 3D printing dates back five years, when the company acquired an inexpensive printer to explore the medium’s potential, primarily in an R&D role. Work in those early years showed that, in principle, additive manufacturing could make a valuable contribution to their design and manufacturing processes. FMI BI’s market research indicated that industry leader Markforged could supply printers and consumables that would meet the company’s exacting standards, and X7™ composites and a Metal X™ metal printer were acquired in 2023.
FMI BI’s extensive and constantly expanding product range strongly emphasises the need to design, prototype, and manufacture new parts accurately, cost-effectively, and within a reasonable time frame. Before the adoption of 3D printing, this posed severe problems for the company.
Peter Stark, FMI BI’s Head of Services, explained that while the design of all new parts was carried out in-house, the production of prototypes had previously been outsourced, mainly to China.
“This was a lengthy and expensive process, and because many of our product innovations involved proprietary designs, we had some concerns about protecting our intellectual property,” said Stark.
“Bringing the process in-house has reduced the time frame, from initial design to finished product, from months to days. The cost savings are significant, too. A prototype that would typically have cost us NZ$60,000 to outsource can now be produced in-house for a quarter of that price,” he said.
Peter Stark said an additional benefit of having an in-house printing capability was that FMI could carry out short runs of new components to build some initial inventory to meet client requirements before transitioning to full production. This would typically involve runs of up to 1,000 units, putting products into customers’ hands months earlier than would have been possible previously – an important consideration in the construction industry, where time is money.
“It also means we can thoroughly test new components to ensure they meet the required industry standards before we commit to purchasing injection mould tooling,” he said.
The in-house facility also enables FMI to create fast and effective solutions to client problems.
“A customer recently encountered an issue with some window units exposed to extreme weather conditions. We pinpointed the problem, designed a solution that would have been considered ‘over-engineered’ by normal standards, and produced parts for the customer, all within a few days. Our ability to react to site issues and quickly develop solutions in-house using 3D printing is an important selling point for us,” said Stark.
“In my view, the best word to describe what additive manufacturing has brought to FMI is ‘agility’,” he said.