CASE STUDY
The Missing Link: How Sözer Jewelry Boosted Production by 70% with Magics SDK
The earliest form of jewelry was made from seashells around 100,000 years ago. In those days, everything was done by hand. Lost-wax casting (also known as investment casting) industrialized the process, while 3D printing molds improved production efficiency even further. But even with digital tools, manual labor and human error can still creep in. What’s the solution? Leveraging workflow automation in additive manufacturing (AM) software, such as Magics SDK — just like Sözer did for their worldwide jewelry business.
Industry
- Art and design
- Consumer goods
Key solutions
The impact
- Automated AM workflows
- Boosted production by 70%
- Reduced file errors by 90%
- Saved around 1.5 full-time employees' worth of manual work for the company
- Enabled R&D team to focus on innovation instead of repetitive file processing
Challenge
Improve efficiency, reduce human error, and standardize AM workflows
A family-owned business founded in 1985, Sözer has since grown into a global brand, operating in over 90 countries. Chains, rings, earrings, bracelets — whatever you can think of, they can 3D print it.
“We’ve been using 3D printing technology for 18 years,” says Sercan Sözer, Director of Design and Product Development at the company. “Initially, we used traditional methods, such as wax masters and rubber molds for casting. However, ten years ago, we moved to direct casting from 3D-printed wax models. [AM] enables us to print unique designs with speed, accuracy, and creativity,” he says.
“Using Magics SDK to automate the preparation of our 3D printing files was the perfect choice for us. It reduced human error, saved our employees time, and sped up our mass production capabilities.”
— Sercan Sözer, Director of Design and Product Development, Sözer Jewelry
3D printing allows them to mass produce complex designs, like one-piece hollow chains in a single casting process: a technique that’s not possible using traditional manufacturing methods.
However, the company wants to tackle certain challenges, mainly:
- Standardizing production to be able to handle thousands of parts (2,700 files optimized three times, equaling 8,100 files monthly)
- Cutting time-consuming checks and reducing human error
- Enabling repeatable quality for their designs such as Sözer's flagship Monaco Chain
The Monaco Chain contributes to around 80% of their total sales worldwide, so it’s essential that this item meets the same quality standards, time after time. “Innovation is at the heart of our company,” says Sercan. “[3D printing] helps us create stronger, lighter customized gold chains, such as our leading Monaco Chain.”
With rising demand and thousands of parts per month to process, Sözer knew they needed a way to scale without compromising on quality. That’s when they turned to workflow automation — choosing Magics SDK as the backbone of their new approach.
Solution
Magics SDK’s AM automation
Before implementing workflow automation, the team physically fixed errors using Magics. “Every change had to be done manually, one file at a time,” says Sercan. Working with large and complex parts used to require extensive checks and lengthy interventions from their operators. Moreover, having the same product manually prepared by various people could lead to different errors and irregularities, plus processing thousands of files was time-consuming.
Now, these processes are performed in the background by Magics SDK, enabling Sözer to reallocate computational resources to significantly shorten processing times. Developing algorithms to meet specific business-related scenarios also reduced the need for further interventions, freeing up employees to work on product innovation and design improvement tasks.
“During our old process, we encountered critical problems such as faulty files entering production without being noticed. Applying automation to our new workflow dramatically shortened our processing times and minimized such errors.”
Sözer’s engineers automated six key steps with Magics:
- Filling holes in models
- Reducing triangles (mesh optimization)
- Sharpening edges (filter sharp)
- Stitching parts together
- Unifying multiple shells into one
- Deleting small shells or floating parts
“Automating these steps with Magics SDK eliminates such mistakes by ensuring every file passes through the full preparation process automatically. It saves us about 1.5 full-time employees' worth of manual work,” states Sercan.
Result
Standardized workflows, as automation reduced file errors by 90% and accelerated production by 70%
Integrating Magics SDK into their workflow was easy; however, our experts also provided training, technical documentation, and other resources, guiding them through the entire process. Together, they configured the system to their workflow to the smallest of details.
“Starting with the initial script, we walked Sozer’s team through the process, coached them step by step, and answered their questions along the way,” says Dennis Bieber, Solution Engineer at Materialise. “Our product and engineering experts remained fully engaged, offering hands-on support and working collaboratively with them from start to finish.”
“Despite being a large company, Materialise is flexible and fast. One of the most valuable aspects of our collaboration was the quick feedback we received, especially during support processes. Their solution-oriented approach at all stages made the process very efficient and problem-free for us,” says Sercan.
With Magics SDK, Sözer transformed their workflows: production is 70% faster, errors are down by 90%, and their designers now spend more time creating the next Monaco Chain — instead of manually fixing files.
“Using Magics SDK to automate the preparation of our 3D printing files was the perfect choice for us. It reduced human error, saved our employees time, and sped up our mass production capabilities. Now, our R&D team can focus more on design and innovation, which really excites them, instead of repetitive file processing.”
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