Jewellery Technology & Machinery - JTM

The Indian jewellery industry today is witnessing a dire need for innovation. The designs you see today in jewellery stores are not much different than the ones from 10 years ago. A huge chunk of the businesses are still relying on age old processes and techniques to manufacture jewellery, despite the availability of the most cutting edge technologies in the market. The industry needs the attention of both government and industry members in terms of new designs, processes and skill development of workforce to sustain in global markets. There is a need to adapt to the dynamic needs of the modern consumer, the fervent populace we often refer to as millennials. Gone are the days when buyers walked inside a jewellery store with no set definition of they what need to buy. Millennials today are extremely specific about the jewellery that they want to buy, just like their specifications for everything in life.

The Modern Take

With the advent of digitisation, new businesses are turning towards advanced manufacturing and retail technologies to provide the best jewellery experience to their customers. 3D printing is trending hot with new age jewellery producers, and they swear by it’s capabilities to truly revolutionize the industry forever. It can produce designs on demand and offers an extremely short time to market for new products, which, apart from speeding up and making manufacturing efficient, also has huge upshots for both retailers and designers alike.

Producing one off, customized jewellery pieces has long since been a challenge for the industry, given the time and investment involved. But with 3D printing, customization is instantaneous, all you need to do is tweak the digital file. Designers can now easily test their designs for NPD, and launch it with minimal risks. 3D printing also enables inventory less retail, targeting one of the hardest hitting pain points of the industry. A huge portion of the investment in retail associated with keeping a physical inventory, which often does not provide for equivalent returns and results in losses. Thanks to digitisation, retailers can now keep a digital inventory of the stock, allowing customers to pick and choose from a digital portfolio and manufacturing only those designs on demand.

Changing Facets of Design

3D printing, apart from being an incredibly fast and efficient way to produce jewellery, is also an enabler of beautiful and original designs. 3D printing takes the design game to a whole new level, giving designer virtually unlimited freedom to create even the most abstract and complex of designs with ease. 3D printed jewellery is today’s couture, with several leading players hosting entire collections inspired by contemporary abstraction, a modernist take on 21st century jewellery. Millennials have always been high on expressing their individuality with customized and unique accessories, and 3D printing presents the perfect solution in the form of mass customization. Several homegrown online retailers like Melorra, Pipa + Bella and CaratLane are targeting this niche market to make the most out of the novelty of 3D printing, and the result is an extremely happy customer.

Back End Is The New Front End

On the industrial front, 3D printing has opened up new prospects for jewellery. Where traditional business functioned by outsourcing design and/or manufacturing and keeping separate tabs on retails, 3D printing enables enterprises to collate all the processes under a single roof.

Imaginarium India, the pioneers of 3D printing calls this an end-toend 360 degree solution. It’s services are a one stop shop for any jewellery manufacturer, retailer or designer, offering everything from design assistance to data preparation to production and even finishing. It is the manufacturing back end of several popular online jewellery shops all around the world, and has firm ties with the biggest names in Indian jewellery as a supplier of raw or finished pieces. From those who’re willing to take things in their own hands, Imaginarium has tied up with the largest 3D printing OEMs around the globe to provide it’s clients with the fastest ofindustrial grade 3D printers, Germany’s RapidShape, capable of printing thousands of designs in a single day. Imaginarium backs up these claim by the virtue of decades of in house experience, and even offers the requisite 3D data preparation software like Autodesk Netfab, setup and service maintenance of the high end machines.

Breaching New Horizons

IIJS 2017 saw the launch of “Upload & Print”, a first-of-its-kind digital platform for jewellery manufacturing by Imaginarium. With Upload & Print, Imaginarium is taking things not one but several notches higher. A true manifestation of the digital age, Upload & Print lets a user upload 3D designs onto the website and send it in for manufacturing in mere clicks of a button. Users can simply upload their jewellery CAD designs and choose material, finishing and quantity for production. They can also view the final product render and instant quotes on their purchases in real time, based on their selections. Once the order is confirmed, it can be tracked from the dashboard and received as home delivery. The platform accepts 3D designs in most of the popular file formats, and offers over 100+ combinations of metals, castable resins and finishes and platings.

It not only facilitates rapid product development for independent designers, it’s a state of art factory in the cloud that can provide a boost to retailers by enforcing the aforementioned concepts of inventory less retail. For Imaginarium, it will serve as a back end for most of their high profile jewellery manufacturing clientele, automating the entire process chain and making things hasslefree. “Upload & Print is a unique landmark in manufacturing of precious jewellery”, says Kamlesh Parekh, Founder & Director of Imaginarium India. “Whether it’s a single piece or a thousand, we produce it with equal ease. It’s just a matter of few clicks.”

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