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标题: Saving Nearly USD 100,000 in Mold Costs: TE and BMF Show the “Deep End” of Micro- and Nano-Scale 3D Printing [打印本页]

作者: admin 时间: 2026-10-23 15:43
标题: Saving Nearly USD 100,000 in Mold Costs: TE and BMF Show the “Deep End” of Micro- and Nano-Scale 3D Printing
Introduction

Connector manufacturing faces two persistent challenges: parts can be so small that conventional molds and tooling cannot produce them, or their structures can be so complex that committing to a mold before validating the design creates a substantial upfront cost that is difficult to recover.

TE Connectivity, a Fortune Global 500 company and a leader in global connectivity and sensing, is using micro- and nano-scale 3D printing to solve manufacturing problems that demand exceptional precision, efficiency, and material performance.

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△ Original article, “Printing at the Edge of Possibility: How TE Connectivity Leverages Micro-3D Printing”

Nanjixiong notes that this is more than a cost-saving and efficiency-improving example of “new technology replacing an old process.” It also reflects the deeper gap between China and the United States in industrial additive manufacturing adoption—a gap built over time.

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Getting an early start

TE's commitment to additive manufacturing goes back surprisingly far. In 1986, when industrial 3D printing was still little more than a concept, TE had already begun experimenting with stereolithography (SLA) and treating it as an engineering tool.

Nearly four decades later, that early investment has become a deep structural advantage. Additive manufacturing is integrated into TE's global R&D system. Its Engineering Prototyping Innovation Center (EPICenter) in Pennsylvania operates more than 40 additive manufacturing machines and prints over 150,000 connector parts per year. In its aerospace and defense business, the Rapid Response Team (RRT) validates processes. Once a process is validated, it can be quickly replicated in Europe, Asia, and North America, enabling production close to demand.

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Ben Dopp, an advanced manufacturing engineer at TE, estimates that the company has produced millions of additive-manufactured parts over the past decade. Annual output rose from about 40,000 parts in 2019 to more than 100,000 in 2025.

Micro- and nano-scale 3D printing breaks through the “micro-injection molding” barrier

Every connector engineer understands the pressure: equipment is getting smaller, component density is increasing, and data-transfer rates are rising. At this scale, a positional deviation of just a few microns can degrade performance. The aerospace and defense trend toward “low-volume, high-mix” production compounds the problem, leaving conventional micro-injection molding with two major obstacles: some designs are technically infeasible, and others are not worth the cost.

When a part feature is smaller than a few hundred microns, draft angles and demolding paths can become dead ends. Mold delivery can take weeks, and if production is below 500 units, the tooling investment is almost impossible to recover.

To address this, TE introduced micro- and nano-scale 3D printing systems from Chongqing-based BMF Precision in 2019. Its selection criteria were practical: equipment cost, footprint, and open materials. Optical precision of 10 microns was enough to meet the needs of nearly 99% of TE's connector applications.

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After installation, the systems have served two main purposes: speeding up connector R&D before molds are made, and directly printing finished parts when volumes are low and lead times are tight.

From high-frequency connectors to a sensor smaller than a grain of rice

For a high-frequency connector used in server interconnects, TE switched to micro- and nano-scale 3D printing to directly produce the support frame, cover plate, and assembly components. Over more than ten design iterations, engineers tested each revision, kept part-position errors within 30 microns throughout, and reliably formed thin-wall structures less than 100 microns thick.

Once the R&D process was complete, TE moved directly to hard-tool production, skipping the soft-tool stage entirely. A single aluminum soft tool can take 4 to 8 weeks and cost close to USD 100,000. Delaying the tooling decision gave the team enough time to finalize the design.

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A medical sensor project posed an even greater challenge. The part measured only about 1 × 1 × 2 mm—smaller than a grain of rice—and required through-holes and grooves. Its material also had to meet blood-contact certification requirements. The production line the team built can make about 2,000 units per day, demonstrating that micro- and nano-scale 3D printing can deliver both dimensional precision and production throughput.

TE also adjusted exposure intensity and time layer by layer to print a flange on the side of a connector as one integrated feature. With precision better than 20 microns, this eliminated a secondary machining operation that had taken about 20 minutes per part.

Direct production in small batches: confidence to skip molds

For custom connectors with annual demand of only a few hundred units, TE uses micro- and nano-scale 3D printing to make finished parts directly. One connector program is now printing about 500 units per year at production scale. From order to delivery—including a complete assembly with custom compression-molded silicone components—takes about four weeks. In Ben's view, 3D printing does not replace injection molding; it gives engineers more flexibility in deciding which process to use.

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Getting into the supply chain is only the first step; closing the adoption gap takes time

TE's collaboration with BMF shows that Chinese equipment can now compete directly with international leaders in the precision and performance of micro- and nano-scale 3D printing. Yet Nanjixiong sees a clear gap in the depth of industrial adoption between China and the United States, and closing it will take time.

First, the gap is not just in equipment; it is also in the decision-making systems for how to use it. TE began exploring the technology in 1986. Nearly 40 years of experience has built a large engineering team able to judge precisely when to use a soft tool, when a hard tool is necessary, and when a job should be printed directly. Many Chinese manufacturers are still at the stage of “buying a machine to make a prototype,” without experience integrating additive manufacturing throughout R&D and production.

Second, true industrial maturity requires long-term engineering work. BMF's equipment entering TE's supply chain proves the technical strength of Chinese systems. But in high-end manufacturing, “printing one high-precision miniature part” is only the starting point. How can materials pass blood-contact certification? How should parts smaller than a grain of rice be cleaned, inspected, and handled? How can a production line ensure yield? These engineering details can only be refined over time on the production line. There is no shortcut to building a moat in high-end manufacturing, and large-scale growth for BMF in industrial applications cannot be rushed.

Finally, BMF's entry into TE's supply chain is a significant breakthrough. Chinese manufacturers have often competed on price in consumer FDM printing; micro- and nano-scale 3D printing takes them directly into high-value components such as high-frequency connectors and medical sensors. TE's methodology, built over 38 years, for deciding when to mold and when to print offers a model for Chinese manufacturers. The next question is when domestic electronics and medical companies will build this kind of on-demand manufacturing system themselves.

△ Video: Nanjixiong interviews BMF

AI-translated from an article by Xiaoruanxiong on Nanjixiong, originally published on 2026-10-23. Text and images retain the original source attribution.
Read the original Chinese article

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