Since its founding in 1991, Gree has grown from a small air conditioner manufacturer assembling less than 20,000 units annually with assets under RMB 10 million into a globally renowned industrial technology conglomerate with annual sales exceeding RMB 200 billion.

Despite maintaining its leading position in China’s air conditioning market, Gree faces increasing challenges from emerging brands in an intensely competitive landscape. To sustain its competitive edge and leadership, Gree must continually innovate and adapt its market strategies, and it is a critical factor for its ongoing success.

As part of its innovation strategy, Gree has embraced 3D printing technology to accelerate product development and iterations. This strategy aims to use the rapid prototyping capabilities of 3D printing to shorten the R&D cycle, reduce costs, and enhance design flexibility and innovation.

In product development, Gree’s designers require transparent resin to create models for visualizing fluid flow, such as pipes and shells. These models allow designers to observe the flow of air or refrigerants within air conditioning systems directly, including flow velocity, direction, and pressure distribution. This visualization is crucial for optimizing system design and improving energy efficiency.

To address challenges such as discoloration and excessive bubbles in transparent resin, Gree chose NextShapes Precision Clear resin. Known for its exceptional transparency and minimal bubble presence, Precision Clear achieves a transparency of up to 90.8%, offering a clear and colorless appearance. This makes it ideal for creating visually precise transparent prototypes. Through multiple iterations and improvements, the resin overcomes issues such as insufficient transparency and excessive bubbles. Certified by SGS testing as virtually bubble-free, the material ensures that printed prototypes display unmatched surface details without undesired color tones, fogging, or optical distortion. NextShapes Precision Clear resin provides strong support for Gree to maintain its leadership in the fierce market competition and accelerates its product optimization and system innovation.

Looking ahead, NextShapes remains committed to advancing technological innovation, providing flexible, high-quality solutions that drive progress and transformation across industries. This partnership demonstrates the potential of 3D printing technology to revolutionize traditional manufacturing and fuel continuous industry advancement.

2024.12.03

Why did Gree choose NextShapes' 3D printing materials?

NextShapes, Transparent Resin, 3D Printing

＜5 minute read