Our customer Hockley Pattern Ltd specializes in the development and manufacture of composite tools, production tools and assembly tools, fixtures and a wide range of similar products for the automotive and aerospace industries.

Management is forward-looking and has made strategic investments over the past 18 months. "We have a commitment to our customers to deliver the right solutions quickly and cost-effectively. We invested in 3D printing to see if the technology was ready for engineers," explains Ian Eaves, adding, "We wanted to expand our design and production capabilities with the introduction of additive manufacturing technology. Our goal is to better serve existing markets and enter new ones."

3D printing is a fast and cost-effective way to do this. We can now offer solutions to the technical challenges we face in a very short timeframe – previously, we had to wait a long time for machine capacity to be made available. We also wanted to use additive manufacturing technology to produce small batches more quickly and efficiently. If we could find a machine that could print high-quality parts that are consistently durable and usable, it would be a huge bonus!

Advantages of additive manufacturing for Hockley Pattern: