3D-Printed Nozzle: Made in Half a Day, Easy to Clean

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January 21, 2026 News 9640

3D-Printed Nozzle: Half-Day Design, Single-Piece Construction, and Easy to Clean

When custom requirements arise on food production lines, traditional manufacturing often means long wait times and high costs. But a recent case from Danish automation company BILA proves that 3D printing is changing the rules of the game.

BILA was developing an automated system for a client that needed to accurately spray thick barbecue sauce onto irregularly shaped pork ribs, all while avoiding clogs and waste. Such customized tools previously relied on multiple suppliers, complex drawings, and assembly, resulting in high costs and long lead times.

This time, they chose to collaborate with the Danish Technological Institute (DTI) and turned to a 3D printing solution. In just half a day, the team completed the design and printing of a specialized nozzle.

Even more ingeniously, experts abandoned the initial stainless steel plan and instead used food-grade blue nylon material to print the nozzle as a single, integrated piece. This not only significantly reduced costs but also achieved two major breakthroughs:

Seamless Cleaning: The one-piece structure has no seams or hard-to-reach areas, perfectly meeting the strict hygiene requirements of the food industry.

Rapid Iteration: When testing revealed that the sauce outlet holes needed to be larger, they simply adjusted the digital model and quickly printed a new version.

Going from design to a testable physical part traditionally takes weeks or even months, but 3D printing shortened this process to a matter of hours. This is not merely a technological substitution; it signals a shift in the tool development model for the food processing industry: on-demand customization, rapid response, and holistic optimization.

When "waiting" and "compromise" are no longer inevitable, the agility and creativity of manufacturing, enabled by 3D printing technology, are bringing a smarter and more efficient future to our dining tables.