Requirements for spare parts in the food & beverage industry are demanding: extreme mechanical loads, aggressive cleaning environments, and permanently high cycle rates in filling and packaging lines. Together, MORSAN and the LEHVOSS Group demonstrate how industrial 3D-printing technologies are setting new standards - through digitally available spare parts manufactured from high-performance LUVOCOM® 3F materials.
From Conventional Spare Parts to a Digital Solution
As a specialized manufacturer of spare and functional parts for the food and beverage industry, MORSAN consistently pursues a digital approach: instead of maintaining physical warehouse capacity for thousands of spare parts, components are stored as digital datasets (digital warehouse) and additively manufactured as needed.
Industrial 3D printing not only enables fast and flexible spare-parts supply, but also targeted redesign of existing components. This can significantly improve service life, functionality, and cost efficiency of many parts - often at lower cost than conventionally manufactured original parts, especially for smaller quantities.
Additive Manufacturing for Extreme Operating Conditions
In high-speed filling systems and conveyor applications, plastic components are exposed to considerable stress:
- High mechanical loads, for example on gears or guide elements
- Intensive chemical exposure from cleaning and disinfecting agents
- Wear intensive continuous strain due to 24/7 operation
To meet these requirements, MORSAN relies specifically on LUVOCOM® 3F materials from the LEHVOSS Group. The compounds developed for industrial FFF/FDM 3D printing enable reproducible part quality, high interlayer strength, and application-tailored chemical and thermal resistance - ranging from PET and PA up to PPS.
More Performance Through Design Freedom
A key advantage of 3D printing is the freedom of design. Instead of copying existing injection-molded or machined parts 1:1, components are specifically adapted to their real load cases. The result is functionally optimized components with improved performance.
MORSAN’s active portfolio already includes several hundred additively manufactured spare parts, including:
- Polymer conveyor-belt gears
- Sliding and guide plates for conveyor chains
- Bottle clamps and grippers
- Adjustable shaft guides
- Slides and pushers for beverage cans
This diversity clearly shows that industrial 3D printing has long since moved beyond prototyping and has established itself as a serial-production and spare-parts technology.
3D Printing as Part of Modern Production Strategies
“For us, 3D printing is not an experiment - it is an integral part of modern production and maintenance strategies,” explains Christos Adam Morsy, MORSAN. “By combining digital part availability, short production lead times, and high-performance materials, we can help our customers reduce downtime. In the next step, we will enable our customers - via new software solutions - to manufacture spare parts on site, no matter where in the world.”
From a materials perspective, additive manufacturing also opens up new opportunities for industrial users. LUVOCOM® 3F materials were developed specifically to bridge the gap between conventional plastic granulate and the special requirements of 3D printing; with a focus on process stability, part performance, and industrial scalability. “MORSAN’s concept shows where 3D printing is headed,” says product manager Dr. Marcus Rechberger of LEHVOSS. “In prototyping you certainly need generalists, but in industrial printing you need a clear focus on markets and processes in order to work out the advantages of 3D printing.”
Outlook
The MORSAN example shows how digital spare-parts concepts and industrial 3D-printing technologies can be successfully integrated into existing production environments. Especially for the food & beverage industry, this opens up a future-proof path to greater flexibility, lower inventory costs, and higher equipment availability. These solutions can be experienced and touched at the Brau trade fair in Nuremberg in November at the LEHVOSS Group stand.
Contact persons:
Lehmann&Voss&Co. KG
Thomas Collet, Director Marketing
Schimmelmannstrasse 103
22043 Hamburg
T: +49 40 44197 412
M: Thomas.collet(at)lehvoss(dot)de
Morsan
Christos Adam Morsy
Thessaloniki, Griechenland
M: info(at)morsan(dot)eu