Saint‑Gobain Boosts Production Efficiency with Markforged 3D Printing

Manufacturers often face a common challenge: a simple customer request for a design change spirals into hundreds of labor hours and costly production line reconfigurations.

At a Saint‑Gobain plant in North America, a client altered the geometry of a weaving bobbin line, triggering the need for 400 custom spindle adapters to secure the redesigned bobbins. Rather than machining these adapters in‑house, research engineer Emmanuel Simadiris—tasked with identifying technology solutions for the company’s plants—evaluated Markforged’s 3D printing capabilities.

After achieving a 100 % return on investment within six months of deploying the Markforged X7 industrial 3D printer, Simadiris leveraged the machine to produce the spindle adapters, demonstrating that 3D printing was the optimal solution for the plant’s change‑order.

By contrast, machining the adapters from durable nylon would have required roughly 1,200 labor hours and $47,000 in material and time costs. Using the X7, each adapter could be printed in under three hours, allowing the plant to cut lead time by approximately 90 days and reduce costs by 86 %.

The 3D‑printed adapters also freed up machinists’ time, enabling them to focus on higher‑value tasks—a benefit highlighted by Simadiris.

Continuous Fiber Reinforcement

The Markforged X7 can print with Onyx—a chopped carbon‑fiber‑reinforced nylon that is 1.4× stronger than ABS—as well as with continuous carbon fiber, Kevlar®, and fiberglass. These materials make the X7 a natural replacement for traditional machining, producing tooling and fixtures that rival aluminum in strength while cutting costs. “The quality of the prints is simply superior,” Simadiris remarked.

Continuous fiber reinforcement gives parts exceptional durability, tight tolerances, and smooth surface finishes—essential for custom tooling, fixtures, and molds. Simadiris says the Saint‑Gobain Research team is actively educating other North American facilities on the X7’s benefits.

Building on this success, Simadiris will host internal webinars for senior leaders across Saint‑Gobain North America, using the spindle adapters as a tangible ROI example to encourage broader adoption of 3D printing.

“The continuous fiber reinforcement opens up a wide range of new applications that were previously inaccessible,” Simadiris says. “We’ll continue championing 3D printing throughout our plants.”

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