Strategies for implementing digital inventory increasingly pop up across all industries. The names vary from one supplier to another, but the concept remains ultimately the same: produce on demand, locally and at any time. The concept of the “Eternal Spare Part” is a very appealing name. Launched by Replique, the provider of a secure 3D printing platform and venture of BASF incubator that you may have discovered through its partnership with Miele, ambitions to provide customers with spare parts over the entire lifespan of a product.
What’s interesting about Replique is that the company does not limit this service to demanding industries as most providers do. In this vein, the first company that will take advantage of this concept is Siena Garden, one of Germany’s leading providers in the garden sector.
Garden furniture that had to be disposed due to worn-out parts, such as foot caps or joints, will be a topic of the past. This is enabled by digitally storing spare parts and producing them on demand via Replique’s 3D printing platform.
By expanding its spare parts online shop with Replique and by adding a substantial number of 3D printed spare parts to its offering, Garden would be able to save costs and achieve greater reparability in its production.
“Today, customers are demanding sustainable and repairable products,” says Peter Benthues, CDO of H. Gautzsch Firmengruppe. “This is also seen in recent efforts such as the right-to-repair regulations. Siena Garden wants to go one step further here. This is the claim of the brand: more care, at a better price.”
The online shop includes foot caps, connecting parts, as well as moving parts – initially critical products, which directly relieve Garden’s after-sales business. The components are made of different polymers that are particularly suitable for outdoor use to optimally withstand UV radiation and moisture.
In the joint project, Siena Garden uses Replique’s systematic onboarding process. This includes the selection of suitable spare parts, digital conversion of technical drawings, as well as technology and material selection. This helps ensure both commercial viability and long-term performance of the printed parts.
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