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FineLine Prototyping, Inc. is pleased to be exhibiting at the 2011 Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) Online Conference. The event will take place September 28-29, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM PDT.
MD&M Online is an internet-based conference and exposition dedicated to medical device design and development. Its goal is to gather medtech manufacturing professionals and the industry's leading medical OEM suppliers together in an online environment to create a dynamic interactive experience, all from the convenience of a desktop.
FineLine Prototyping services the US's medical device product development community with precision stereolithography technology. Attendees to MD&M Online will have the opportunity to visit FineLine's virtual booth, tour the company facility, see samples of materials and finishes, and ask real time questions of staff.
To learn more about FineLine Prototyping, visit: www.finelineprototyping.com
Additional information on MD&M Online can be found at: www.canontradeshows.com/expo/mdmonline11
The American Composites Manufacturers Association's (ACMA) Pultrusion Industry Council (PIC) has taken a key step toward creation of a national standard for the use of pultruded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites materials by developing the first-ever Code of Standard Practice for Fabrication and Installation of Pultruded FRP Structures. The Code details industry-accepted procedures and practices for the fabrication and installation of pultruded FRP structures and provides recommendations for construction contract documents.
The Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Relevant Committee formed by ACMA's Composites Growth Initiative (CGI) has announced its intent to convert PIC's industry guidelines into an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard. To this end, it has submitted to ANSI a Project Initiation Notification System (PINS) request for Standards Action Public Review.
"Composite materials have long been recognized for the advantages they offer in terms of strength to weight ratio, resistance to corrosion, low maintenance requirements and long life cycle," says John Busel, director of CGI. "The establishment of an ANSI standard for performance criteria will allow structural engineers to incorporate FRP composite materials into their work with more confidence than ever. It will mean stronger, safer and better buildings."
"ACMA is working toward the time when composite materials are integral to every building constructed in the US," adds ACMA President Lori Luchak. "Adoption of a national standard is key to the increased use of reliable, durable composites material. And that increased use will benefit both individual members of the American public and our national economy."
PIC worked with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to develop an LRFD Prestandard. This prestandard currently is being promulgated by the ASCE Fiber Composites and Polymer Standards Committee.
"The prestandard is divided into two components," explains Busel. "There is the standard requirements, which consists of the rules structural engineers must comply with when designing anything. Then there's the commentary, which is an expanded explanation of the requirements. It's basically background information and is not binding on users. Right now, PIC's Code of Standard Practice for Fabrication and Installation of Pultruded FRP Structures is referenced in the prestandard commentary. If it is converted to a recognized consensus standard – which would be accomplished by it becoming an ANSI standard – it can be referenced in the requirements section during the ASCE balloting process. This would give the PIC Code more practical muscle and further the expansion of composites use."
Representing over 3,000 companies, the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) is the world's largest trade group representing the composites industry. ACMA publishes a quarterly magazine, Composites Manufacturing; offers a universal, comprehensive training program for fabricators - Certified Composites Technician - and provides strong, proactive leadership in technical, government and regulatory affairs. In addition, ACMA hosts COMPOSITES, the largest composites tradeshow in North America with supplier and manufacturer representatives from all market segments.
For more information, visit: www.acmanet.org
Objet GmbH, a subsidiary of Objet Ltd.,the innovation leader in 3D printing for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, announces today that IPF, a prototyping service bureau in the UK, has implemented both the Objet clear transparent and ABS-like materials, for use with Objet 3D printers, at its office in Nazeing, just north of London, to great effect.
"We're seeing great demand for the new Objet clear transparent (Objet VeroClear) material. We consumed a significant amount of the material during the beta testing just through word-of-mouth leads alone, and we've had substantial new business specifically on the strength of the transparent capability," states Gary Miller, Head of 3D Printing & Rapid Prototyping at IPF, "Objet has long been ahead of the game in terms of prototypes that truly represent the intended end-product, and the properties of the new materials can only strengthen that position."
Objet VeroClear is a truly transparent, rigid and near-colorless material featuring excellent dimensional stability for general purpose, fine detail model building and visual simulation of transparent thermoplastic such as PMMA.
"The clarity is superb," Miller comments, "The feedback from my customers is that it surpasses rival technologies such as Stereolithography (SLA), which has traditionally been requested for transparent applications. Printing in layers as fine as 16 micron layers - or even in high-speed 30 micron layers - with excellent print resolution, Objet printed models also have better surface finish, finer details and tighter tolerances."
According to Miller his customers opt for the transparent material for a diverse range of applications, "My customers are constantly breaking new ground with new products or improved parts. We are using the Objet transparent clear material for clients in the fields of architecture, automotive and consumer electronics, defense and medical. The applications range from waterflow systems, to clear screens, casing and housing for electronics, to testing lighting functionality, to using illumination to showcase design aesthetics and detail."
With regards to the Objet ABS-like material, Miller says that he has completed orders for customers from the food processing and automotive sectors, asserting: "I expect the ABS-like material to create significant new opportunities and growth from our customers within the automotive, consumer goods and F1 racing sectors. It could potentially be a business changer, which is why we were the first company in the UK to adopt it."
Designed to simulate ABS-grade engineering plastics by combining high-temperature resistances with extreme toughness, Objet ABS-like is a Digital Material[TM] for use with Objet Connex multi-material 3D printers, the world's only range of rapid prototyping systems able to jet two materials at the same time. IPF's rapid prototyping department operates both an Objet Connex500 and an Objet Eden350V 3D printer.
"The Objet ABS-like material provides a seriously compelling alternative for replicating engineering plastics, where previously FDM plastic models were probably used," says Miller. "The same fit, form and function capabilities that Objet excels in are now available with the benefits of ABS-like - rigorous durability, high temperature resistance and excellent dimensional stability. We've also found that, because the material isn't porous, the finishing options are fantastic too."
Andy Middleton, General Manager for Europe at Objet comments, "IPF has always had a pioneering spirit when it comes to 3D printing. Making its first investment in an Objet system in 2003, Gary and the team have been beta testing machines and materials for Objet ever since and are repeatedly amongst the first to take up new technologies."
For more information, visit: www.objet.com or http://ipfl.co.uk
Hexagon has acquired all shares in the Brazilian software and services provider SISGRAPH. SISGRAPH has been providing custom made Intergraph solutions to Latin America since 1980. SISGRAPH provides sales, consulting, implementation and training services for all Intergraph products in Latin America. SISGRAPH's technical team of more than 100 engineers and specialists has deep knowledge of Intergraph products, its applications and the markets to which they are destined. The company has long-term relationship with the major companies in the process and power segment in the area as well as with several local government agencies.
Excluding inter-company sales, SISGRAPH's turnover in 2010 amounted to approximately 11 MEUR. The company has shown solid growth over the last years and strong profitability.
"The purpose of this acquisition is twofold. It will strengthen our presence in the fast growing South American market and it will give us full access to the competence, customer relations, service capability and proprietary technology of SISGRAPH. We believe South America in general and Brazil in particular has very interesting growth prospects for the years to come. For our Power, Process and Marine business we see many opportunities related to the exploration and production of Brazil's massive offshore oil reserves and in our Security, Governments and Infrastructure business we have for example many interesting leads related to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics", says Ola Rollén, CEO and President of Hexagon AB.
SISGRAPH will be fully consolidated as of today and will immediately contribute to Hexagon's earnings.
For more information, visit: www.hexagon.com
Membership in the LinkedIn® group of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) now exceeds 10,000, making it the largest group for plastics professionals on the LinkedIn social media platform, SPE announced today.
"Since its formation in September 2008, the Group has experienced exponential growth in membership, member discussions, and job postings," said Lesley Kyle, SPE's Director of Event Management. "Upwards of 150 new members are admitted to the Group each week, and new posts and jobs appear daily on the discussion boards. The SPE LinkedIn Group has become an industry resource for plastics professionals who are seeking answers to technical questions, networking, and even employment opportunities."
More information on the SPE LinkedIn Group is available at: www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=857357
THE SOCIETY OF PLASTICS ENGINEERS (SPE) is the premier source of peer-reviewed technical information for plastics professionals. Founded in 1942, SPE takes action every day to help companies in the plastics industry succeed by spreading knowledge, strengthening skills, and promoting plastics. Employing these vital strategies, SPE has helped the plastics industry thrive for over 60 years. SPE has become the recognized medium of communication among scientists, engineers, and technical personnel engaged in the development, conversion, and application of plastics.
For more information, visit: www.4spe.org
Newly appointed U.S. Department of Commerce Chief Manufacturing Officer Michael Molnar will address manufacturing executives from across the country at the inaugural imX industry summit in Las Vegas on Sept. 12, 2011. He will share information about how individual manufacturers can participate in and benefit from the new national Advanced Manufacturing Partnership launched recently by President Barack Obama.
The Partnership "brings industry, universities and the federal government together to invest in emerging technologies," and demonstrates the President's commitment to "building domestic manufacturing capabilities to create the new products, new industries and new jobs of the future," according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
"A healthy domestic manufacturing industry is vital to our nation's economic recovery," said Peter Borden, president of imX partner the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association. "Our leaders in Washington know it, and the industry knows it. At imX, we're coming together to determine how to work collaboratively to strengthen a manufacturing base that will continue creating jobs for American workers and provide a solid foundation for sustained economic growth."
Molnar has extensive industrial experience, with past leadership roles in manufacturing technology, advanced manufacturing engineering, metrology and quality systems. Housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), his new position makes him NIST's central point of contact with the White House, the Department of Commerce and other agencies on technical and policy issues related to manufacturing. He begins his tenure as Chief Manufacturing Officer on August 27, 2011.
Other Keynote Speakers
Day two of imX, Tuesday, Sept. 13, will begin with an impassioned presentation by Peter Schutz, author and retired CEO of Porsche AG. Having led Porsche to its peak performance during the 1980's, Schutz will share his thoughts on how the leadership of human resources will likely become the pivotal competitive edge for business. His keynote address is titled "Leadership: Extraordinary results from ordinary people."
Jim Carroll, acknowledged as one of the world's leading global futurists, trends and innovation experts, will deliver the Wednesday, Sept. 14 keynote address, answering the question "What do world class innovators do that others don't?" In his motivational style, Caroll will outline what he's seen other global innovation leaders concentrating on to ensure market success during these rocky times and will illustrate how to seize transformative opportunities.
In addition to the keynote presentations, opportunities for conversation, thought leadership and collaborative learning at imX will include a series of interactive Industry Panels, Learning Labs hosted by leading experts, intimate Knowledge Bar conversations, and a Gala celebrating the future of manufacturing in the United States.
The Event
The inaugural imX – the Interactive Manufacturing Experience – taking place Sept. 12 to 14 in Las Vegas, will feature one of the nation's most pivotal gatherings of manufacturing executives, nonprofit leaders and government officials working together to chart a course for the future of an industry that is vital to the American economy. At imX, the manufacturing industry will, for the first time, come together not as competitors but as collaborators with a common goal and focus of long-term industry viability. Participants will meet to discuss and foster an understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing their customers and their competition, and to explore the latest manufacturing technology.
The imX manufacturing summit is a collaboration among eight leading machine tool manufacturers and two national industry associations. The event's founders are executives from eXperience partners DMG/Mori Seiki U.S.A., FANUC, Kennametal, MAG IAS LLC, Makino, Methods Machine Tools, Okuma America and Sandvik Coromant. imX is jointly presented by leading industry associations the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and the [Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Dozens of eXhibit Partners also have committed to joining the conversation and to demonstrating their own manufacturing innovations at imX.
Manufacturing executives can apply to be an eXecutive Guest at the Sept. 12-14 invitation-only imX event at: www.imxevent.com
Renishaw SLM (Selective Laser Melting) is a pioneering additive manufacturing process capable of producing fully dense metal parts direct from 3D CAD using a high-powered fibre laser. Parts are built from a range of fine metal powders that are fully melted in a tightly controlled atmosphere layer by layer in thicknesses ranging from 20 to 100 microns.
The current range of machines are the third generation designs and, following several years of detailed market feedback from key development partners and clients, now represent state-of-the-art manufacturing systems. Key features, providing significant enhancements over previous models, include variable powder delivery, ultra low oxygen content in the build atmosphere and an unparalleled safe change filter system to minimise user materials contact.
The range comprises the SLM250 and the SLM125, both of which feature vacuum technology and low gas consumption. The machine has been designed for ease of use within a manufacturing environment and features a touch-screen interface and various menu options for machine preparation and clean down. Machine robustness has been given high priority, adopting a 'machine tool' approach to use and serviceability. Consumables costs are minimised through careful design and features, such as the soft re-coater blade that can be rotated several times before replacement and the use of low-cost filter elements, right through to low gas consumption — all contribute to system reliability and low cost of ownership.
Renishaw's SLM systems have always processed a wide selection of materials and the new range is no exception, but with the additional benefits of rapid materials changeover on the SLM125 via a cassette type materials delivery system and by the removable hopper on the SLM250; particularly useful where materials development or a range of materials are in use. The capability to safely process reactive materials, such as titanium and aluminium, is a standard feature on Renishaw SLM machines. In particular, the gas knife that clears away reactive sooty emissions and the heated build plate are both pre-requisites for the successful processing of both materials.
Both the new machines feature a fully welded vacuum chamber, enabling low-pressure evacuation followed by a recharge with high purity argon gas. The gas consumption rate, after the initial chamber flood, is extremely low, and allows operation at oxygen concentrations below 50 parts per million — a crucial factor when processing reactive materials such as titanium and aluminium; and contributing significantly to material integrity and mechanical performance.
All file preparation is completed off-line through a choice of interface, either Marcam Autofab software or via Materialise Magics. Once complete, the build file is uploaded to the machine via a secure network or direct connection. Product traceability has been improved by the addition of process data and event logging as standard, with various additional process control options on request.
For more information, visit: www.renishaw.com/en/selective-laser-melting--15240
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and its Associate Member Council (AMC) today awarded General Mills with the 2011 CPG Award for Innovation and Creativity. The award is given annually to companies that have demonstrated creativity and innovation, and have made a significant impact on the industry knowledge base.
GMA evaluated applications in two manufacturer divisions – those from companies with total sales of less than $3 billion (Division A) and those from companies with $3 billion or more in sales (Division B).
General Mills won the Division B category for finding an innovative, sustainable use for the 80,000 tons of oat hulls that are left over from the milling process of making Cheerios each year. Batter Blaster won the Division A category.
The company's decades-long production of Cheerios entered a new chapter in January 2011 with the startup of General Mills' first biomass-powered plant in Fridley, Minn. A biomass unit at the plant burns leftover oat hulls to produce more than 90 percent of the steam needed to heat the plant and produce the oat flour used in making Cheerios. It has also reduced the plant's carbon footprint by 21 percent.
"Our biomass burner addressed two compelling business needs — saving money and reducing our footprint on the environment for years to come," explained General Mills Chairman and CEO, Ken Powell. "We've sharpened our focus on building sustainability into every step, from seed to spoon, and this project is one of the most recent and visible successes from this journey. Accomplishments such as the biomass burner inspire and challenge all General Mills employees to dream big when developing creative solutions to make General Mills an even more sustainable company."
In addition to producing steam and heat for the Fridley mill, leftover oat hulls are used by a local electricity provider, Koda Energy, to power approximately 17,000 homes a year.
The benefits from this project continue beyond energy. After the oat hulls have been burned, the resulting ash is captured and distributed to nearby farmers who use it as a nutrient supplement to improve the soil on agricultural land.
John Hellweg, manufacturing manager of General Mills' Fridley mill and one of the champions of the oat hulls biomass burner project, provides a tour of the Fridley mill and biomass burner in this video.
MSC Software Corporation, the leader in multidiscipline simulation solutions that accelerate product innovation, today announced its upcoming 2011 Users Conference. Attracting engineers from all industries, the conference is the premier event within the simulation and analysis community, bringing academics, engineers, technologists, designers, executives and managers from all over the world to exchange information and ideas, network with peers, and gain access to the software developers that are redefining Computer Aided Engineering (CAE).
The Users Conference is taking place at the Hilton of Orange County in Costa Mesa, California on October 4-6, 2011. Registration details for the event can be located at: www.mscsoftware.com/ucreg
This year's conference agenda is filled with 54 innovative technical presentations and 5 one-day training classes. Industry experts will gather to share their knowledge, best practices and strategies for developing products that meet the ever-increasing pressures of time, cost, quality, and performance. Conference attendees will have an opportunity to meet with our technical specialists from around the world. To view a listing of the technical presentations featured at this year's conference, visit: www.mscsoftware.com/ucPresentations
Among the hundreds of industry experts attending, MSC Software is pleased to feature the following 3 Keynote Computational Analytical Engineering thought leaders:
* Mr. Frank Doerner of The Boeing Company presenting "Enabling Next Generation Aerospace Products through Advanced Modeling & Simulation"
* Dr. Steve Jia of Litens Automotive Group presenting "Virtual Product Development at Litens"
* Mr. Christopher Oster of Lockheed Martin presenting "Evolving Lockheed Martin's Engineering Practices through the Creation of a Model-centric Digital Tapestry"
To view Keynote Speaker biographies and Keynote presentation abstracts, visit www.mscsoftware.com/ucKeynotes
SpaceClaim, the market leader in direct modeling software that enables all engineers to work in 3D, today announced SpaceClaim Engineer 2011+, advancing concept modeling and model preparation tools while greatly enhancing robust manufacturing-focused capabilities. SpaceClaim has furthered its industrial-strength capabilities to scale from small engineering firms and job shops to global corporations, making it more affordable than ever for all engineers to create and edit CAD data without the complexity traditionally associated with complicated, expensive CAD.
SpaceClaim continues to gain momentum within the automobile and related industries with more than 20 customers ranging from top-tier brands to supply chain manufacturers. Auto Metal Craft is a sheet metal prototyping company based in Detroit and engaged by the largest automobile manufacturers, as well as tier-1 auto suppliers and appliance manufacturers. "We deal with very complex assemblies sent to us by our customers to create new parts," said Kevin Woody, Co-owner of Auto Metal Craft. "SpaceClaim has reduced our time to convert CAD files and create new prototypes by 75 percent. The software is easy and flexible, enabling us to work quickly, creatively, and accurately to optimize the final design."
The JT data format, developed by Siemens PLM Software, provides an open environment for 3D data visualization and collaboration. JT has been widely adopted within many manufacturing industries especially in the automotive sector. SpaceClaim Engineer 2011+ is unique in its ability to visualize and edit JT data with PMI, allowing any engineer to visualize large data sets, as well as open and edit precise part geometry. SpaceClaim multiplies the value of manufacturers' investments in JT by combining the ease of use of a simple viewer with the power of 3D solid modeling previously only available in complex CAD systems designed for dedicated CAD practitioners.
"SpaceClaim changed the landscape of the 3D CAD market when we introduced our 3D Direct Modeler in 2007. SpaceClaim was designed from the ground up to be intuitive, easy to learn and use, while being as robust and powerful as many costly and complex CAD software products," said Chris Randles, President and CEO of SpaceClaim. "In a market that had seen little innovation in more than a decade, SpaceClaim sparked a revolution that has seen most of the leading CAD vendors follow suit and introduce their own first-generation direct modeling solutions. SpaceClaim 2011+ is our eighth release in four years. We continue to invest aggressively in our technology, working with our customers and partners to exceed their needs in a highly competitive manufacturing marketplace. SpaceClaim is the clear leader in 3D Direct Modeling, and is the product in the market today against which new entrants should be measured."
SpaceClaim works closely with partner TRUMPF, a global machine tool manufacturer, to drive new sheet metal manufacturing capabilities. The new capabilities in SpaceClaim address a broad range of manufacturing applications including NC machining, jig and fixture design, mold manufacturing, and sheet metal manufacturing. The new features include:
* Numerous modeling improvements, including fill patterns, a standardized hole wizard, clipping regions, and STL curve fitting.
* Extended CAE, CAM, and IP protection model preparation tools for volume extraction, missing face detection, and face merging.
* Groundbreaking sheet metal capabilities include double wall support, tabs, hinges, gussets, curve wrapping, and marking.
* Improved ease of use and performance improvements with selection, view manipulation, and responsiveness.
* Documentation features such as hole tables, bolt hole circles, offset cross sections, datum targets, and multi-model drawings.
* Extended file operations and interoperability supporting JT PMI, 2D PDF, archival creation, AutoRecover, solid STL, and the ability to apply custom KeyShot materials.
SpaceClaim is aligned with manufacturers' business imperatives such as removing waste from product development, tightening product development costs, and using simulation more pervasively in engineering. SpaceClaim customers realize that traditional CAD products designed for detailed design and manufacturing documentation do not adequately serve many engineers. See the What's New page on the SpaceClaim website for more details on this release and where you will also find the SpaceClaim 2011+ video showcasing features and enhancements found in this new release.
Proto Labs, a leading online and technology-enabled quick-turn manufacturer of prototype and short-run production CNC machined and injection molded custom parts, has announced the first recipient of its Cool Idea! award program. Don Ladanyi, of Westlake, Ohio, has been awarded prototyping and production services to help launch his product, TruFlavorWare®, designed specifically for chemotherapy patients.
TruFlavorWare is non-metallic, organic, taste-inert flatware, designed to make food taste better by eliminating the aversive "taste-reactive" electro-chemical reactions caused by metal knives, forks and spoons. Ladanyi's product brings particular relief to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy by removing the bitter metallic aftertaste that often occurs when trying to eat with standard metal flatware.
"Don's taste-inert flatware is a cool idea because it solves a very basic problem -- that is, how to neutralize the unpleasant taste caused by standard flatware when your sensitivity to metal or plastic is acute," said Proto Labs founder and CTO Larry Lukis. "With Cool Idea!, we want to stimulate innovation by helping deserving products move past the idea stage to market viability. Toxin-free flatware that restores the dignity of mealtime to cancer patients certainly fits the bill."
Don Ladanyi got the idea for TruFlavorWare while dining with chopsticks. He realized that the neutrality of bamboo enhanced the flavor of his food. In addition to its taste-inert properties, TruFlavorWare is BPA-free, and made of a highly durable, FDA approved, proprietary composite material that has been ergonomically designed and weighted to approximate the substantial feel of stainless steel flatware. Unlike common light-weight plastic flatware, TruFlavorWare is totally dishwasher-safe and lasts a lifetime.
In an early beta-test at a major Ivy League university, a random panel of 100 tasters preferred TruFlavorWare over regular metal flatware by a remarkable majority of 2:1.
"It was a revelation to me when I realized that everyday eating utensils actually interfere with what we taste," said Cool Idea! recipient Don Ladanyi. "I knew how unpleasant it was trying to eat when all you can taste is metal or plastic, so I wanted to find a better solution. I wanted to create something that would allow a strawberry fruit salad to taste like a pure strawberry fruit salad, not some harsh metallic version of a fruit salad. I couldn't have done this without Cool Idea! – I'm absolutely dedicated to the success of this product, and am grateful for the prototype and initial production support from Proto Labs."
Prior to creating TruFlavorWare, Ladanyi worked as a biomedical engineer. He plans to continue introducing TruFlavorWare to healthcare facilities first in Cleveland, and then throughout the U.S. For more product information, visit: www.truflavorware.com
The Cool Idea! Award is a new program designed to give product designers the opportunity to bring innovative products to life. TruFlavorWare is the first recipient, with additional recipients to be named. Throughout the course of this year, Proto Labs will provide an aggregate of up to $100,000 worth of prototyping and short-run production services to award recipients. For more information, visit: www.protolabs.com/coolidea
Thomas (Tom) G. Loken, a doctoral candidate in Mechanical Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, Wisc.) as well as a project engineer at The Madison Group (Madison, Wisc.), is the second 2011-2012 winner of the SPE Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) graduate-level scholarship in transportation composites research. Loken, who is from Winona, Minn. and expects to graduate in 2014, won this year's second scholarship for a research project analyzing the effects of processing conditions on fiber-length distribution in short-fiber composites. He will receive his $2,000 USD check this fall and will report the results of his research during the twelfth-annual SPE ACCE, September 11-13, 2012.
Short-fiber thermoplastic composite materials are widely used in the automotive industry. These materials offer enhanced mechanical properties over unfilled resins, yet remain viable for high-volume production methods, such as injection molding, making metals replacement cost-effective thanks to parts consolidation, weight reduction, and elimination of secondary-finishing operations. However, the mechanical properties of fiber-filled composites are strongly influenced by orientation and length/diameter (L/D) ratios of reinforcing fibers, making final part properties highly dependent upon processing conditions. In the case of injection molding, fiber damage and attrition can occur during processing, reducing final L/D ratio. Therefore it is useful to understand which process parameters have the greatest effect on final fiber length distribution.
"The focus of my research is to study the effects of varying process conditions on the final fiber-length distribution in short-fiber thermoplastic composites," explains Loken. "I am studying injection molding of a commercially available grade of short-glass/polypropylene and the influence of process variables like injection speed, screw speed, mold temperature, and barrel temperature. Injection speed controls the shear rate of the resin as it passes through the nozzle, runner, gate, and into the mold cavity. Screw speed controls the shear rate of the material during plastification in the barrel. Barrel temperature impacts the resin viscosity. And mold temperature affects material flow into the tool. Once test specimens have been molded, they will tensile tested per ASTM-D638 specifications to obtain tensile strength and modulus values, which will be studied as response variables. Samples with the most varied tensile properties will be selected for fiber-length distribution measurements. I've set my project up as a two-level factorial design of experiments (DOE) study to evaluate interaction between process variables. Because temperatures are hard to change, a split-plot design will be used. From personal experience, I've found that experimental designs are useful because full randomization is neither cost effective, nor practical. However, careful examination of the treatment variables to account for the split-plot design and randomization restrictions is necessary. I hope that the results will show which variable or variables have the greatest influence on tensile properties, what process interactions are present, and how varying process parameters influences the final fiber L/D ratio and measurement technique."
Thomas Loken holds a B.S. degree in Composite Materials Engineering from Winona State University (Winona, Minn.), which he received in 2009. During his undergraduate studies he worked as a testing intern at the school's Composite Materials Technology Center (COMTEC), where he conducted mechanical and analytical testing on composites and plastics. He also worked as a process engineering intern at RTP Co. (Winona, Minn.) in the extrusion/compounding of thermoplastics and short-fiber composites. At RTP, Loken was responsible for SPC charting, corrective actions, and process studies. After graduating, he served as the manufacturing engineer at Rolco Inc. (Kasota, Minn.) where he managed work instructions, corrective action requests, and process optimization, and project managed four family tools used to produce automotive parts using glass-filled polyamide – from mold inspection, to sampling, to production. Loken also conducted considerable research – using factorial screening experiments, response surface experiments, and validation – on secondary spin-welding operations for these parts to ensure a hermetic seal was achieved. He is currently a project engineer at The Madison Group where he conducts failure analysis of plastics and provides consulting services to the plastics community. Loken is concurrently a fulltime graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working with Drs. Tim Osswald and Paul Gramann.
Held annually in suburban Detroit, the SPE ACCE typically draws 400+ speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, and attendees from 14 countries on five continents and provides an environment dedicated solely to discussion and networking about advances in transportation composites. Its global appeal is evident in the diversity of exhibitors, speakers, and attendees who come to the conference from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia / Pacific as well as North America and who represent transportation OEMs -- traditional automotive and light truck, as well as agriculture, truck & bus, and aviation – and tier suppliers; composite materials, processing equipment, additives, and reinforcement suppliers; trade associations, consultants, university and government labs; media; and investment bankers. The show is sponsored jointly by SPE's Automotive and Composites Divisions.
Current sponsors and exhibitors for the show include: Ticona Engineering Polymers, Dieffenbacher GmbH, Magna Exteriors and Interiors, Continental Structural Plastics, RTP Co., American Composite Manufacturers Assoc.'s (ACMA's) Automotive Composites Alliance (ACA), Bayer MaterialScience, Addcomp North America, Inc., AOC Resins, Asahi Kasei Plastics North America, Inc., Toho Tenax America, Inc., PPG Industries, Acrolab, Ltd., OCV Reinforcements, Bulk Molding Compounds Inc., The Composites Group, Quantum Composites, Ashland Inc., American Chemistry Council - Plastics Div., Dassault Systèmes, BASF, e-Xstream engineering, Flow International Corp., Polystrand, Williams, White & Co., Plasan Carbon Composites, Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd., Newport Adhesives & Composites Inc., National Research Council Canada (NRC), DASI Solutions, LayStitch Technologies, Core Molding Technologies, Inc., Reinforced Plastics magazine, Composites Technology magazine, High-Performance Composites magazine, CompositesWorld Weekly eZine, Ward's AutoWorld magazine, WardsAuto.com, Plastics Technology magazine, Plaspec Global Plastics Selector, Polymotive magazine, Automotive Design & Production magazine, AutoField Blog, China Plastics & Rubber Journal, China Plastics & Rubber Journal International, Plastics Engineering magazine, Automotive NewsWire eZine, SAE International, Automotive Engineering International magazine, JEC Group, Composites Europe, and Modern Plastics India Magazine.
The mission of SPE is to promote scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics. SPE's Automotive and Composites Divisions work to advance plastics and plastic-based composites technologies worldwide and to educate industry, academia, and the public about these advances. Both divisions are dedicated to educating, promoting, recognizing, and communicating technical accomplishments for all phases of plastics and plastic-based composite developments, including materials, processing, equipment, tooling, design and testing, and application development.
For more information about the SPE Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition, visit: www.speautomotive.com/comp.htm
Services provided by the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) triggered a $130 million economic impact and helped to create and save 1,009 manufacturing jobs, according to results documented by clients.
WMEP, a private, non-profit consulting organization, provides a wide range of services to help small and midsize manufacturers accelerate growth, profitability and global competitiveness.
Results reported by 214 manufacturers during FY 2011 include:
* $83 million in increased and retained sales
* $16 million in cost savings
* $31 million in investment impact
* 355 jobs created and 654 jobs retained
In addition, an analysis of the data projects a $3.8 million tax revenue benefit to the State of Wisconsin as a result of sales and jobs impacts.
"We're very pleased with the financial gains we've been able to help manufacturers achieve, and grateful for the opportunity to partner with them to improve their businesses," said Buckley Brinkman, WMEP's executive director and chief executive officer. "We're especially excited to announce the creation of more than 300 manufacturing jobs at a time when job creation is the most pressing issue facing our state and nation."
Since 1998, WMEP has helped to generate $1.7 billion in economic impact and create and save 14,000 state manufacturing jobs.
"WMEP is a results-driven organization that delivers a substantial return on investment for manufacturers and the State of Wisconsin," said Mike Erwin, chair of WMEP's board of directors and president of Menomonee Falls-based Tailored Label Products, Inc.
The results documented by customers reflect successful projects completed under WMEP's expanded offering of Next Generation Manufacturing services. Those services are targeted to promote performance excellence in new product innovation, talent management, export development, sustainability, supply chain management and other areas.
"We're moving toward longer, more strategic engagements that build a strong platform for long-term growth and success," said Brinkman. Continuous improvement and lean are still an important part of the mix, he notes. But today's focus is on applying lean strategies enterprise wide and instilling them deeply in a company's culture and employees, in contrast with smaller projects in the past that were more limited in scope.
To further expand resources and assistance available to manufacturers, WMEP has forged partnerships with several private and public organizations such as SCS BT Squared, Milwaukee School of Engineering's Rapid Prototyping Center and UW E-Business Institute.
The annual economic impact data is part of a national evaluation conducted by an independent firm for the NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a national network of 59 centers that provide assistance to small and midsize manufacturers. Manufacturers are surveyed six months after the completion of a project.
Wisconsin is home to 9,000 manufacturers, who contribute $47 billion – 19% – to Wisconsin's economy and employ 448,000 workers.
"Manufacturing is the engine that drives Wisconsin's economy," Brinkman said. "Our job is to provide the tools and expertise that allow manufacturers to win in a fast-changing, fiercely competitive global economy. These results move us closer to the goal line and promote a world-class manufacturing sector that creates good jobs and economic prosperity now and in the future."
WMEP is a private, nonprofit organization committed to the growth and success of Wisconsin manufacturers. WMEP receives financial support from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and the NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership. WMEP also partners with many public and private organizations to serve Wisconsin manufacturers.
For more information, visit: www.wmep.org
In select locations, join us for a fun-filled day of golf games (closest to the pin, etc.), a modeling contest, complimentary lunch and networking combined with all of the What's New in SolidWorks content you've come to expect from our update training events.
Golf games run all day! Pick and choose the update training topics that interest you and spend the rest of the day networking with FISHER/UNITECH staff and your peers, or learning more about partner products like SolidCAM and rapid technology.
Golf-Themed SolidWorks 2012 Update Training Events
October 3rd
Signature of Solon Country Club
Solon, OH
October 5th
Great Oaks Country Club
Rochester, MI
October 5th
Schaumburg Golf Club & Academy
Schaumburg, IL
October 11th
Thornapple Pointe Golf Club
Grand Rapids, MI
October 12th
Old Hickory Golf Club
St. Louis, MO
October 14th
RiverGlen Country Club
Indianapolis, IN
October 25th
Meadowbrook Country Club
Kansas City, KS
Golf events run from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm local time.
(St. Louis, MO, and Prairie Village, KS, run from 2:30pm-8:00pm.)
Can't Make One of the Events Above?
Join us for SolidWorks 2012 Update Training only at one of eight locations below. Snacks and beverages will be provided. SolidWorks 2012 Launch Events Only do not include golf games, modeling contest or lunch.
Events below run from 1-5 pm local time, with the exception of Springfield, MO.
October 6th, Pittsburgh, PA
October 11th, Milwaukee, WI
October 12th, Cincinnati, OH
October 13th, Traverse City, MI
October 13th, Dayton, OH
October 17th, Ft. Wayne, IN
October 26th, South Bend, IN
November 2nd, Springfield, MO (6-8pm)
For more details or to register, visit: www.funtech.com/Events/SolidWorks-2012-Launch-Events
ElectriPlast Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Integral Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: ITKG) ("Integral"), and makers of the ElectriPlast™ line of electrically conductive resins, announced today the sponsored launch of The Conductive Plastics Forum, an online forum to promote the research, development and commercialization of electrically conductive plastics, resins and polymers. The forum, www.conductiveplastics.org, promotes discussion, consultation and advise from industry professionals around the world who have interest in advancing concepts, ideas, applications and designs for conductive resins and polymers.
"This is an emerging technology and The Conductive Plastics Forum is a great venue in which to exchange ideas, educate and promote the adoption of conductive plastics," commented Herbert Reedman, ElectriPlast CEO. "Forums are the equivalent of on-line classrooms or think tanks; a place to collaborate, learn and grow as an industry."
Conductive plastics, once thought to be an impossibility, are rapidly gaining attention from every corner of industry for their ability to replace conventional metal or aluminum components with electrically conductive light weight plastics while reducing component weight by 40 to 60%.
Applications for conductive plastics include everything from wire and power electronics, to shielding, antennas, capacitors and medical devices. Interested industries include consumer electronics, aerospace, military, automotive, lighting, heavy industry and life sciences as designers and engineers look for ways to make their products lighter, more portable or more fuel efficient.
"Our hope is to help foster a thriving on-line community of design, manufacturing, teaching and engineering professionals who share our vision for emerging conductive plastic technologies so that together, we expand knowledge and grow as an industry," said Reedman.
Interested parties are invited to join the online Conductive Plastics Forum at http://www.conductiveplastics.org.
ElectriPlast has been constantly innovating in the conductive resins field since it received its first patent in November 2001 for engineering a highly conductive plastic for antenna applications. ElectriPlast now manages what is said to be the most comprehensive patent library in the conductive plastics space.
Delcam is to hold four meetings for users of its ArtCAM artistic CADCAM software across North America in October. The meetings will be in Toronto, Ontario, on Tuesday October 4th, in Orlando, Florida, on Friday October 7th, in Grapevine, Texas, on Saturday October 15th and in Santa Monica, California, on Thursday October 20th. Each meeting will be a full day packed with a combination of new features and techniques, tips and tricks, and business benefits.
Commenting on the decision to increase the number of meetings, Sean Plunkett, ArtCAM North America Sales Manager, said, "We know it can be difficult for users to get away from the shop. Not only is there a concern for costs but time as well. In order to alleviate this as much as possible, we are making our 2011 User Group Meetings more convenient to our customers by offering four different locations, each on a different day of the week."
"We are confident that by attending one of the ArtCAM User Groups, users will enhance their skill and knowledge in ArtCAM, so they can produce their work with greater speed, efficiency, accuracy and cost effectiveness, gaining maximum return on their investment," he continued.
"I'm really enthusiastic about this year's ArtCAM User Groups," said Mr. Plunkett. "We have some exciting new things to show in ArtCAM." These include a number of new options for higher quality results, in particular, "contour blend" that can improve the quality of text, enhanced texture effects, especially those that intersect or overlap, and aid in producing complex borders on items like picture frames.
Another significant improvement is in the quality of vectors generated directly from bitmaps imported from 2D drawing packages such as Corel Draw, or scanned from artwork or photographs. With earlier versions of ArtCAM, it could take some time to clean up the vectors but the new release gives much better results that require minimal editing. Once vectors have been created, it has been made much easier to edit them into exactly the shape that is required. The node editing tools have been enhanced with the ability to move points and automatically produce smooth curves around the shape or to maintain any sharp angles. In addition, mid-points can be displayed automatically on any curve to simplify the creation of more complex geometry.
One of ArtCAM's most important benefits has always been the ability to create a library of reliefs for use in different designs. This process has been made easier with the introduction of the "cookie cutter" option. This allows the user to define a relief with its vector boundaries, and then cut and paste it between models or into the clip-art library for future use.
The range of standard clip-art supplied with ArtCAM has been extended with 130 extra reliefs, including architectural, floral, frame and texture examples.
For more information on the new features in ArtCAM 2011 release, visit: www.artcam.com
Objet GmbH, a subsidiary of Objet Ltd., the innovation leader in 3D printing for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, is exhibiting the Objet260 Connex multi-material 3D printing system at TCT (stand G28). Objet will showcase the company's widely acclaimed multi-material 3D printing technology with some exceptionally realistic 3D models, some of which are printed using the newly released Objet ABS-like material and Objet water-clear transparent material.
Objet also invites TCT attendees to experience live demonstrations of the compact Objet260 Connex with a glass of champagne on Wednesday 28th September from 4pm to 5pm at a drinks reception on the stand. Visitors can also pre-register for demonstrations of the Objet260 Connex and the Objet30 Desktop 3D printer which will run throughout the show.
The Objet260 Connex is a compact and attractively priced addition to Objet's family of multi-material 3D printers, the world's only rapid prototyping system able to jet and mix two materials simultaneously to produce up to 14 different material properties in a single part. "Delivering this unique capability in a more compact and affordable format is an exceptional feat," comments Chris Baker, Objet UK sales manager. "Engineers and designers alike can print premium quality prototypes featuring multiple materials to more accurately represent the true look, feel and function of off-the-shelf products. And all from a system that can sit in the corner of your office."
Examples of the premium quality prototypes made possible through Objet printing are available on the Objet stand and around the show. A fully functional skateboard demonstrates the dimensional stability and strength achievable through Objet's ABS-like material. Able to sustain weights of around 100 kilos repeatedly, Baker comments that the skateboard often steals the show.
IPF 3D Printing, a UK-based prototyping service bureau using Objet 3D printing systems, will also be at the show (stand H30) and exhibiting some stunning examples. Gary Miller, Head of 3D Printing & Rapid Prototyping at IPF 3D Printing, comments, "Objet has long been ahead of the game in terms of true-product representation. The fine detail, surface finish and post processing options mean we can produce first-class prototypes for a vast range of uses. For instance, some of the stand-out models from our exhibition at TCT include John's trophy, a memorial piece which required fine detail, smooth surfaces and metallization in post processing; a Judoon character from the Doctor Who series, which also needed extremely fine detail and accuracy; a yeast culture and a sample steering wheel, each produced in one print run, which illustrate the different material properties that can only be achieved with Objet technology."
Objet will also feature in the TCT LIVE Free Conference & Seminar Programme, with Chris Baker presenting an Additive Manufacturing Tech Brief at 1pm on Wednesday 28th September. Objet representatives will also be available throughout the three-day event to discuss Objet's entire product range of 3D printers including the unique Objet Connex multi-material line, the Objet Professional Eden line and the affordable entry-level Desktop series, and over 60 3D printing materials.
See Objet at TCT LIVE 2011 from 27th – 29th September, on stand G28 at the NEC, Birmingham.
For more information, visit: www.objet.com or www.tctmagazine.com/x/tct-live/tctlive.html
Next year's NPE2012 international plastics exposition will be so big that the reusable scrap generated in just one day by equipment operating on the exhibit floor will amount to tens of thousands of pounds.
To prevent the waste of this valuable material, SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association has appointed Maine Plastics, Inc. as the official recycler for NPE2012. The company is charged with the collection, separation, transportation, and reprocessing of production-line scrap, as well as such other waste as the PET bottles left behind by more than 60,000 visitors. NPE2012 is the fifth consecutive edition of the triennial NPE for which Maine Plastics has provided these services.
Organized by SPI, NPE2012 will take place April 1-5, 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, Florida. Maine Plastics will coordinate with SPI, the OCCC, exhibitors, and vendors in administering the recycling program.
Taking part in the program will cost exhibitors no more than if they used standard trash removal services, noted David Spitulnik, president of Maine Plastics.
"Our goal is to equal or surpass the NPE2009 recycling program, in which we collected and recycled 95% of the recoverable materials, amounting to 125,000 pounds [57 metric tons]," said Spitulnik.
Chances are good that the 2012 recycling program will surpass that of 2009 by a large margin, according to Gene Sanders, SPI's senior vice president of trade shows and conferences. "We expect to see a lot more scrap being produced on the NPE2012 show floor, and that will be a good thing," said Sanders. "It will be the result of a substantial increase in the number of machines being shown in full operation, enhancing the value of attending NPE2012 while yielding everything from caps and closures to blown film to automotive components."
The increase in operating equipment will be the result of the lower costs and simpler logistics available to exhibitors in the new Orlando venue, as compared with the Chicago site of the NPE2009 show, Sanders noted.
To highlight the importance of recycling PET, SPI is organizing a PET recycling demonstration and exhibit designed to be an education and awareness platform for the industry. "Working with Maine Plastics, we will sponsor a live reprocessing demonstration, plus an exhibit of products manufactured from recovered PET bottles, such as fibers and clothing, strapping, and, of course, more bottles," said Sanders.
Maine Plastics is headquartered in Zion, Illinois and was established in 1983. The company processes more than 140 million pounds (63,600 metric tons) annually. Maine Plastics will open a new plant in Utah during 3Q 2011; its existing plants are located in Zion and Kankakee, IL; Schoolcraft, MI; Dover, DE; Apex, NC; Richmond, VA; Stratford, CT; Buffalo, NY; and Columbus and Kearney, NE.
The NPE2012 international plastics exposition will take place Sunday through Thursday, April 1-5, 2012, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The NPE2012 educational program will begin on Sunday. Monday will be the first day of the four-day trade show. NPE is produced by the SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association.
For more information, visit: www.npe.org or www.maineplastics.com
Celeritive Technologies, Inc., developers of VoluMill™ – The Pathway to Competitive Manufacturing through Ultra High-Performance Toolpath Innovations, announced today that it has signed a license agreement with NCCS of Irvine, California for its VoluMill technology. Under terms of the agreement, NCCS will integrate Celeritive's ultra high-performance toolpath engine VoluMill into NCCS' NCL Multi-axis machining software and offer it as an option upgrade. NCCS will offer VoluMill for 3-axis roughing applications, which is expected to provide users with dramatically improved rough milling productivity.
"We believe VoluMill is definitively the industry's best solution for bulk-material removal and are pleased to offer this technology as a fully integrated component of NCL, our high-end multi-axis machining software," says NCCS' Manager of CAD/CAM Applications & Support, David Schultz. "VoluMill's high-performance roughing strategies are an excellent complement to NCL's Total Control 3-, 4-, and 5-axis finishing strategies. This combination will provide enormous cost saving benefits to our customers including reduced programming time, faster cycle times, and greater tool life."
VoluMill's patent-pending technology generates toolpaths that produce a consistent material removal rate. Their smooth, flowing motion establishes and maintains ideal milling conditions in any part shape. Reduced forces on the spindle and cutting tool enable machining hardware to be safely utilized to its full capabilities. Uniform chip formation and excellent heat dissipation result in the previously unachievable combination of dramatically reduced cycle times and significantly extended cutting-tool life.
"We are pleased to have earned the distinction of becoming a partner to NCCS, one of the industry's leading providers of multi-axis machining software," says Terry Sorensen, CEO for Celeritive. "NCCS has built a long standing relationship with their customers over the past thirty years, and the inclusion of VoluMill within their suite of solutions affords us an opportunity to become a part of their growing success in the global market."
Numerical Control Computer Sciences (NCCS) has been an international supplier of Computer-Aided Manufacturing software and services for over 30 years. A recognized leader in software solutions for multi-axis machining applications, its flagship product NCL, is used by leading manufacturing companies throughout the world.
Celeritive Technologies, developers of VoluMill, is one of the world's leading CAD/CAM technology innovators specializing in ultra high-performance toolpath solutions for the manufacturing industry. The guiding philosophy at Celeritive is to develop and supply toolpath generation solutions that allow CNC machine tools and cutting tools to operate at peak performance and are economical and simple to implement. Through dramatically reduced cycle times manufacturing operations become more profitable, flexible, and competitive and they can maximize return on their capital investment. Located in Cave Creek, Arizona, Celeritive Technologies was founded by industry leading experts highly proficient in machining, programming and software development.
For more information, visit: www.volumill.com
After 12 years as the president and CEO of IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries®, Dennis "Denny" P. McGuirk has resigned to accept a new position as president and CEO of SEMI, a global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chains for the microelectronic, display and photovoltaic industries. His last day at IPC will be November 1.
"Denny has been a tremendous leader and a great friend to our industry. I am sure I speak for the entire board in saying that he will be sadly missed. IPC is in a great position thanks to his hard work and dedication," says Robert Ferguson, chairman of the IPC Board of Directors.
In his tenure at IPC, McGuirk steered the organization through two difficult recessions and reshaped IPC into a global organization. When he joined IPC in 2000, the organization had 2,500 members with less than 25 percent located outside of the United States. Under his leadership, IPC's reach and services significantly expanded onto new continents. Today, IPC has more than 3,000 members of which 38 percent are located outside the United States, and its programs and services are delivered globally. IPC maintains offices in the United States, Stockholm, Moscow, Bangalore, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Beijing. The organization has 75 authorized training centers in the United States, Asia and Europe and has published 105 translated standards.
McGuirk says, "I have thoroughly enjoyed serving as president and CEO of IPC during this exciting and challenging time. The involvement and interaction with the board of directors, our staff and most importantly, our members around the world has been personally and professionally rewarding for me. I am confident the organization will go on to even greater success in the future and I look forward to following the progress of the organization and all of the friends I've made along the way."
Ferguson will chair a search committee that will conduct a global search for McGuirk's replacement.
IPC is a global trade association based in Bannockburn, Ill., dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 3,000 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $1.5 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, N.M.; Arlington, Va.; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; Bangalore, India; Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing, China.
For more information, visit: www.ipc.org
Laser micro-manufacturer, Potomac Photonics, has added advanced quality control and inspection capabilities to its service offerings. Customers in the medical device, micro-electronics, consumer, solar, bio-photonics, MEMS, and micro-fluidics industries now have access to state-of-the-art visualization of micro-machined parts.
Media Cybernetics' new Image-Pro Plus Version 7.0 image processing and analysis software creates image informatics solutions to automate quality control processes. To see its capabilities, view this image of a surface plot of 2 micron holes in polymide material.
"At Potomac, we're committed to providing the best customer experience," comments Mike Davis, Director of Operations. "Because we work on spatial scales as small as one micron, coordinating measurement standards with our customers is critical for quality. This advanced tool allows customers to see exactly how controlled and precise our processes are."
Potomac has a broad range of micro hole drilling technology for both prototyping and production applications. A variety of materials can be drilled including polymers, metals, silicon, glass and ceramics.
Potomac Photonics is a leader in microfabrication helping clients to develop miniature products and bring them to market. Utilizing cutting-edge manufacturing technology, Potomac has been recognized by both commercial and government agencies for innovative contributions to areas such as medical device manufacturing and electronics fabrication. Potomac's high-tech facility is located in Lanham, MD, is ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 13485:2003 certified.
For more information, visit: www.potomac-laser.com
INUS Technology, Inc. is pleased to announce that a recent U.S. Air Force-funded study evaluating CAD and reverse engineering software concluded that Rapidform XOR stands alone in its ability to create parametric solid models from 3D scan data. The study was conducted by Dr. Kuang-Hua Chang of the University of Oklahoma and published in the journal CAD and Applications. This study offers an unbiased, expert opinion that confirms Rapidform XOR is the only viable choice for creating parametric CAD models from 3D scans.
INUS Technology invented the concept of creating parametric CAD models directly from 3D scans with the release of Rapidform XOR in 2006, and XOR remains the product of choice for those serious about fast and accurate reverse engineering of physical parts. The U.S. Air Force frequently needs to regenerate designs of decades-old parts, and so commissioned the University of Oklahoma to study both 3D scanning software and hardware to determine the best available technology. INUS Technology had no knowledge of the study or its outcome until it was published in CAD and Applications.
Dr. Chang and his students surveyed the landscape of software available for converting 3D scans into parametric solid models usable in CAD, evaluated and then tested the front runners using practical examples. "We used five different examples in two rounds of testing," said Dr. Chang. "The first round was surface modeling, and in the second round, we focused on parametric solid building."
"We found that Rapidform is the only viable option that is able to support parametric modeling and transferring the solid model to CAD systems," Dr. Chang continued. "When we say 'viable option', it's based on two things. One is the time and effort, the other is the accuracy." According to Chang, other software "was able to generate a parametric solid model, but it took a long time and the solid model created was not very accurate."
"It's very rewarding to see an unbiased study recognizing the value of Rapidform XOR compared to other 3D scanning software," noted Calvin Hur, INUS Technology's CEO. "Thousands of customers have already recognized that Rapidform XOR is the best choice for reverse engineering, but this is the first objective study that confirms which software is best-in-class. We encourage anyone considering 3D scanning technology to read this paper to make a well-educated decision on their reverse engineering software solution."
The entire paper, including technical details of each tested software, is available for free download at: www.rapidform.com/reverse-engineering-study
FineLine Prototyping is pleased to be exhibiting, sponsoring, and presenting at Medical Design's first ever Medical Prototyping Conference (MPC). The conference will be held in Minneapolis, home to many medical device companies, September 7-8, 2011. Unlike other prototyping conferences, MPC will focus exclusively on the medical device industry. FineLine Prototyping is a rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing service organization specializing in high-accuracy, high-resolution parts for the medical device industry.
Modeled after the successful two-day Medical Silicone Conference events, MPC will feature presentations by leading industry experts, including FineLine Co-Founder and President Rob Connelly, who will present on stereolithography as a means to reduce product development time. "The many possible uses of stereolithography for medical applications have proven effective for reducing product development time, saving costs, and increasing quality," said Connelly. "Some applications just are not possible without the use of additive manufacturing."
Other presentation topics scheduled for the conference include selective laser sintering, 3D printing, rapid injection molding, and other topics specific to medical device OEMs. Keynote sessions will address the significance of prototyping in the medical device industry, particularly in light of market forces.
Founded in 2001, FineLine Prototyping, Inc. services the US's medical device product development community with precision stereolithography technology. FineLine pioneered the use of high-resolution stereolithography, and helped develop it into a mainstream tool, used by product development professionals around the globe.
For more information, visit: www.finelineprototyping.com or http://medicaldesign.com/microsites/protoyping-conference
Delcam will summarize developments in its latest software releases for its North American customers at a series of free Technical Update Seminars to be held in September and October. Demonstrations will cover the recent enhancements in PowerSHAPE, PowerMILL, and FeatureCAM that can increase productivity, improve quality and reduce lead times. Delcam employs the largest development team in the CAM industry. By attending an update seminar, users will be able to maximize their benefit from this investment in the latest design and manufacturing techniques.
The dates and locations are Tuesday September 27th at Seco Tools in Troy, Michigan, Wednesday September 28th at the Ciociaro Club in Windsor, Ontario, Friday September 30th at Sandvik in Mississauga, Ontario, Tuesday October 18th at SeekTech in San Diego, California and Thursday October 20th at Selway Tool in Buena Park California.
Delcam North America President, Glenn McMinn said, "Holding free update technical seminars on our advanced manufacturing software not only gives our customers the opportunity to benefit from their investment but also gives new companies a chance to see the advantage of what a CAM supplier like Delcam with the largest development team in the industry can do for their design and manufacturing techniques."
Delegates to the meetings will have their first opportunity to see the new release of Delcam's PowerSHAPE CAD software for product design, tooling design and reverse engineering. The 2012 version incorporates the first direct modeling capabilities, alongside many improvements to the existing combination of solid, surface and triangle modeling capabilities. The new direct modeling options are aimed principally at toolmakers that need quick and easy methods to edit imported CAD data to make it suitable for tooling design.
The most important new option to be demonstrated in PowerMILL 2012 will be flowline machining. With flowline machining, the toolpath is divided between a pair of drive curves in a constant number of passes, rather than having a varying number of passes with a constant stepover. This produces a better surface finish on the part and minimizes wear on the cutter and the machine tool.
Other enhancements include control of the angular point distribution during five-axis machining, new thread milling options and improved workplane editing. It has also been made easier to obtain measurements, including distances, angles and directions, from the part model and enter these values into PowerMILL forms automatically.
A number of the improvements to be shown in FeatureCAM 2012 will make the software even easier to use. A range of keyboard shortcuts have been added and toolpath editing has been made much easier.
Other improvements include further developments in the use of stock models to cover 2D features, including bosses, sides and slots, extra options within the tooling database, the ability to automatically counterbore holes before drilling, fully-automated de-burring and chamfering, the possibility to create a negative leave allowance (such as a fitting allowance) for turning or wire EDM to produce undersized features without remodeling, and much improved performance on the largest part files with hundreds of thousands of entities.
A registration form and further details are available at: www.delcam.com/manufacturingseminar
Michael Siemer, founder and president of Mydea Technologies Corporation in Orlando, has been invited to lead a session at the National Academy of Engineers' 2011 Frontiers of Engineering Symposium at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Sept. 19-21.
Siemer, an engineer and former Disney Imagineer, said he will co-lead a session on additive manufacturing/3D printing at the symposium.
"I am excited about this great opportunity," Siemer said. "It's a rare opportunity to be invited and an honor to lead a session on manufacturing," Siemer added.
More than 300 engineers from across the county were nominated to participate in the NAE's 2011 Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. Symposium directors narrowed the list to 85 of the most prominent engineers under 45 years of age who have performed exceptional engineering research and technical work in industry, academia and government.
The NAE's annual Frontiers in Engineering Symposium brings together a select group of emerging engineering leaders to discuss pioneering technical work and leading edge research to facilitate collaboration, the transfer of technologies and networking, said NAE President Charles Vest.
The NAE's 2011 Frontiers of Engineering Symposium will focus on additive manufacturing, engineering sustainable buildings, neuroprosthetics, and semantic processing, Siemer said.
Mydea Technologies is one of the leading industry providers of 3D printing, additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, and rapid tooling using digital manufacturing technologies to produce components for technology manufacturers.
Mydea Technologies is a client of the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program and located at the Central Florida Research Park in east Orlando
For more information, visit: www.mydeatechnologies.com or www.nae.edu
Jan T. Sehrt, Dr.-Ing., of the University of Duisburg-Essen accepted the 2011 RTAM/SME Dick Aubin Distinguished Paper Award. Sehrt was honored during the plenary session at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers' (SME) 2011 RAPID Conference & Exposition in Minneapolis earlier this year.
The award, which is sponsored by SME's Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing Community, recognizes innovative applications of rapid prototyping processes and techniques and honors the author for his contribution of ideas and information to the rapid technology and additive manufacturing industry. It is named in memory of Richard F. Aubin, a former member of the editorial review board for the Rapid Prototyping Journal and a founding member of the former Rapid Prototyping Association of SME advisory board. Aubin was a pioneer in the international intelligent manufacturing systems (IMS) effort with his work in the rapid product development feasibility study.
Sehrt was this year's recipient for his paper titled "Direct Integration of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tags Into Beam Melted Parts". Sehrt, along with his coauthor, Gerd Witt, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Habil, also of the University of Duisburg-Essen, go into great detail proving that RFIDs can function inside products with dense metal walls, even after being put through the rigorous integration process. As a result, this discovery makes it possible to use RFIDs as an effective way of quality management for rapid manufacturing purposes.
"The RTAM Committee was pleased to receive a number of outstanding entries to compete in this year's Dick Aubin Distinguished Paper Award," said David K. Leigh, vice-chair of SME's Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing Community. "This year's winner presented a paper and a concept that has yet to be addressed by the community and offers a very practical use of the additive manufacturing process."
Visit the RTAM/SME Dick Aubin Award page to learn more or visit the RTAM Community page at: www.sme.org/rtam
Autodsys, Inc. released IntelliCAD 7 Standard with support for DWG 2010 to 2012 files as well as many features to enhance user productivity and enjoyment.
"IntelliCAD 7 is the most significant update in the 14 year history of IntelliCAD", said Ronald Prepchuk, President of Autodsys. "With a new internal database and every command rewritten to take advantage it offers significant advancements in performance, compatibility, and stability." he added.
A few of the key enhancements to IntelliCAD 7 Standard:
* Teigha is now IntelliCAD's internal database for DWG files
* Support for AutoCAD 2010-2012 files
* Displays Architectural Desktop and Civil3D objects
* Support for DRX (ARX-like) applications
* Visual Styles
* Associative Dimensioning
* Xref editing
* Display of gradient hatches
* Non-rectangular viewports
* Paper-space virtual 'paper'
* Dockable Properties Pane that can be pinned or hidden
* Hundreds of fixes and improvements
IntelliCAD started as a secret project of Softdesk in the mid 1990's. When Autodesk purchased Softdesk they were forced by the Federal Trade Commision to divest IntelliCAD which was then purchased by Visio Corp. In 1999 Visio founded the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium to further develop IntelliCAD as an industry standard platform for CAD solutions. IntelliCAD software is designed to work like AutoCAD and contains all of its standard features including DWG file support as well as support for industry standard commands, menu files, script files, shape files, text fonts, hatch patterns, linetypes, LISP programs, SDS/C++ programs, and VBA programs. It also contains many advanced features that make it easier to create and edit DWG files.
Autodsys is a privately held company, commercial and board member of the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium and developer of AcceliCAD, IntelliCAD, AcceliARCH (ArchT), and other utilities to increase user productivity. Autodsys has been producing AutoCAD add-ons since 1986 and has received industry awards for its products including "Highly Recommended" and "Best Products of 2008" by Cadalyst Magazine.
For more information, visit: www.autodsys.com
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced nearly $2.7 million in Phase 1 and Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards to 18 U.S. small businesses.
The awards provide funding to small businesses to help develop technologies that could lead to commercial and public benefit. Winning projects include a research platform for developing microscopic robots less than a millimeter in size, an environmental chamber for testing the weathering of materials, and an improved system for broadcasting time-of-day signals.
NIST's SBIR program is a competitive funding opportunity that provides contracts to small businesses for federal research and development. The program stimulates technological innovation in the private sector, strengthens the role of small business in meeting federal research and development needs, increases private sector commercialization of federal research and development, and fosters technological innovation at minority and disadvantaged firms.
SBIR awards are funded through a three-phase process. In Phase 1, small businesses can receive up to $90,000 to establish the scientific or technical merit, or feasibility of ideas, that support the commercial potential of their research. Every year, NIST issues a "call for proposals" under Phase 1 of the SBIR program to address specific problems related to the agency's mission. Successful completion of Phase 1 enables awardees to compete for Phase 2 funding of up to $300,000 that enables them to continue their research and development efforts. Phase 1 awardees have six months to complete their work; Phase 2 awardees have up to two years. Phase 3 involves commercial applications of the newly developed technologies, with funding from outside of the SBIR program.
NIST solicits proposals for the SBIR program that fall within its mission and that, whenever possible, allow collaboration between NIST scientists and SBIR awardees. The SBIR program was established by Congress in 1982 under the Small Business Innovation Development Act.
Awards announced include:
Phase 1 Awards
Sigma-K Corporation (Durham, N.C.) - $90,000
Production Methods and Software for NIST Calibration Phantoms
Sigma-K will develop a manufacturing technique and accompanying software that will commercialize a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) "phantom," an object that will help calibrate MRI scanners. The developed software will analyze the resulting MRI data. The goal of the project is to produce a phantom that provides consistent and accurate results over an intended lifecycle of five years.
RoadNarrows LLC (Loveland, Colo.) - $90,000
An Extensible 6DOF Vision Framework for Accurate Location and Pose Estimation in a Scene Graph Context
RoadNarrows will develop a novel architecture to be implemented in a machine vision system with applications in autonomous robotics. With the ability to move in three rotational directions and three translational (back and forth) directions, the system will generate high-resolution, real-time spatial data that will be incorporated into an innovative framework for creating data structures that can approximate a 3-D environment.
AMT Nano (Lexington, Ky.) - $90,000
A Versatile Microbot Fabrication Platform
AMT Nano will develop a versatile platform for manufacturing robots with dimensions of less than a millimeter. Relying upon a low-cost, high-throughput and highly precise micromolding process, the platform will enable the fabrication of microrobots with continuous contours and curvatures; varying thicknesses; and desired optical, electrical, and magnetic properties that would prove difficult for conventional techniques.
BIMCON Inc. (W. Bloomfield, Mich.) - $89,979
An Integrated Decision Support Framework for Sustainability CAE
BIMCON Inc. will research the feasibility of an integrated decision support framework for evaluating the sustainability of products as they are being designed. This framework, called Sustainability CAE (SCAE), will take advantage of the latest advancements in open standards and software capabilities, capture lifecycle-wide information relevant to sustainability and its assessment, and organize and integrate it in a usable form with the analysis phases.
Nanometrology International, Inc. (Allen, Texas) - $90,000
3-D Tip Characterization and Surface Reconstruction
Nanometrology International, Inc. (NMI) will demonstrate the feasibility of three-dimensional (3-D) characterization of nanometer-scale objects using scanning probe microscopy (SPM) with a measurement uncertainty of less than 0.7 nanometers. To do this, NMI will propose a novel method of 3-D tip characterization and use an innovative surface reconstruction algorithm recently introduced by NIST and the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Information Technology
G2, Inc. (Annapolis Junction, Md.) - $90,000
Enhanced Security Content Automation Protocol Editor
G2 will develop an intuitive, interactive utility for creating and editing digital content using the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP), a set of specifications for automating computer security operations. The utility aims to provide a user-friendly operating environment for creating and editing SCAP applications.
Aries Design Automation, LLC (Chicago, Ill.) - $90,000
Using Automated Abstractions to Classify System States for Software Health Monitoring
Aries Design Automation will determine if methods that have been successful in other kinds of software analysis can be used to monitor information system health. They will apply ideas from run-time verification and software testing to extract information that a machine learning algorithm may use to classify states by their probable proximity to system failure.
DeVivo AST, Inc. (Huntsville, Ala.) - $88,789
An Automated Test Bed for Assessing System-of-System (SoS) Assurance
As System-of-Systems (SoS) become more complex, their interactions become difficult to identify and control. Unmanned Autonomous Systems are an important example of an SoS that is difficult to assure. Drawing upon prior work on multi-criteria decision making, DeVivo AST has developed TOP Score, a software tool that facilitates the modeling and analysis of complex Unmanned Autonomous Systems.
Materials Science
Measurement Analysis Corporation (Torrance, Calif.) - $88,834
Environmental Chambers for an Integrating Sphere-Based Weathering Device
Using a new concept for humidity control based on a proprietary saturated air source, Measurement Analysis Corporation will develop a design for an environmental chamber for use with NIST's SPHERE ultraviolet (UV) radiation source for studies on how UV radiation can weather or otherwise degrade materials.
Sepax Technologies, Inc. (Newark, Del.) - $89,999
Anion Exchange Resins for Chirality-Based Separation of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes
All known methods for producing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) generate mixtures of tubes with spirals at different angles, or "chiralities." Producing a batch of carbon nanotubes with the same chirality is critical for taking full advantage of their superb mechanical, thermal, optical and electronic properties in products. Sepax will apply its technology to develop methods of producing and separating SWCNTs of desired chirality in a highly effective and efficient fashion.
Optical Physics Company (Calabasas, Calif.) - $89,951
Interferometric Angle Measurement
Optical Physics Company will seek to implement an interferometric angle sensor to determine the relative angle between two diffracting crystals. The expected accuracy will be better than 0.1 arc seconds across a range of 0.25 degrees. Phase 1 work will build and test a prototype interferometer, which will confirm the design and prepare for fabrication of a deliverable unit in Phase 2.
Agiltron Inc. (Woburn, Mass.) – $89,990.85
Optical Instrumentation for MEMS Oscillatory Parallel-Plate Rheometer
Leveraging their techniques for optically measuring motion in microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices, Agiltron will use electro-optical sensors to measure displacements and gaps in the NIST micro-rheometer, a potentially valuable flow-measurement tool for biotechnologists studying minute quantities of complex materials that must function in confined spaces.
Signal Processing, Inc. (Rockville, Md.) - $90,000
High-Performance Signal Processing Tools with Fluctuation-Enhanced Sensing
Signal Processing will develop a high-performance library of signal processing tools that incorporate a newly developed technique known as fluctuation enhanced sensing (FES) to enhance the performance of a novel microsensor design developed at NIST.
Phase 2 Awards
Information Technology
Xtendwave (Dallas, Texas) – $300,000
A Novel Enhanced-Performance Low-Cost Receiver and a Modified Modulation Scheme for WWVB
Xtendwave will complete the development of an improved system for broadcasting from NIST radio station WWVB, based in Fort Collins, Colo., that is used by millions of people throughout North America to synchronize consumer electronic products such as wall clocks, clock radios and wristwatches. The project aims to design a new signal-modulation scheme and protocol, develop a new time-code generator, and create and demonstrate a receiver prototype that can validate expected improvements in the performance and low-cost manufacturability.
Ad Harmony (Staten Island, N.Y.) - $300,000
Distributed MBARK-Based Mobile Face Recognition
Ad Harmony will develop a prototype of a face recognition application in a cloud computing environment utilizing the Multimodal Biometric Application Resource Kit (MBARK) – public domain source code that can be leveraged to develop the next-generation of biometric and personal identity verification applications. The tool will have a client element that will run on a mobile device such as a laptop, and a server element that will run on a higher-performance computing cluster.
Microelectronics Manufacturing
Celadon Systems, Inc. (Apple Valley, Minn.) - $300,000
Massively Parallel High-Temperature Probe System for Wafer-Level Reliability Testing
Traditional reliability assessment methods are proving less effective as device sizes shrink, and the cost of assessing these device innovations is becoming a major barrier to their commercialization. The NIST Phase 1 project concluded that a tightly integrated system offers the potential for a tenfold reduction in test costs. However, a tightly integrated system introduces risks and unknown factors due to the thermal, mechanical and electrical interaction of system components. In its Phase 2 effort, Celadon Systems will explore interactions among feasible alternatives identified in Phase 1 and develop the best possible combination into an integrated system.
Optics and Optical Technology
Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc. (Watertown, Mass.) - $299,995
High-Speed and High-Sensitivity Quadrant Photodetector
Radiation Monitoring Devices will develop a turnkey optical detector module for use in characterizing properties of microcantilevers used in scanning probe microscopes and sensing applications.
Manufacturing Systems Integration
BIMCON Inc. (W. Bloomfield, Mich.) - $299,620
Decision Support Tools for Sustainable Manufacturing
Bimcon Inc. will work to develop an integrated decision support solution that transforms the current time-consuming and reactive (post-design) sustainability assessment of a product into a proactive approach available in the early design phases. Its Phase 2 work focuses on building the systems necessary for a fully functional prototype that will be deployed and tested by the company's industry collaborators.
As a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.
For more information, visit: www.nist.gov
As automobiles change, so do the demands on suppliers of parts -- right down to the rubber hoses that carry air into the engine, coolant to the radiator, and fluids to brakes and windshields.
Compact engine compartments crammed with components make engineering for hoses more precise than ever, which is why Mackay Consolidated Industries Pty Ltd of Victoria, Australia, invested in a ZScanner® handheld 3D laser scanner from Z Corporation.
Mackay, a Tier 1 auto supplier for OEMs such as Ford, GM and Toyota, produces hoses in progressively intricate shapes and sizes to deal with the shrinking margin for error under the hood. The ZScanner helps the company better perform quality assurance to document that its products precisely match design specifications.
Instead of creating complex fixtures to set up every scanning project, the user in most instances can simply point the ZScanner like a flashlight at the target object, which can be handled and moved during the process to easily capture every surface angle. The resulting image -- triangulated mesh in STL format -- is downloaded into PolyWorks® inspection software, which aligns the image with the customer-approved CAD model. This process produces a highly detailed "heat map" chart pinpointing where the part complies with the specification, and most importantly, where it does not. It's now quick and easy to spot areas that are outside specification and revise designs accordingly.
"We've dramatically reduced the time it takes to scan new hoses," says Arch Tatas, Mackay's quality manager. "It takes us half the time it used to. We just place the item on a bench and go to work. This has helped us transform our quality assurance procedures to save time, improve quality and increase customer satisfaction. These are all valuable results for us."
No more laborious, imprecise hand measurement
Until recently, the company evaluated specification compliance by measuring its products by hand. Engineers used squares and gauges to compare the manufactured product to a two-dimensional printout of the CAD drawing. This process was time consuming, costly, laborious and inaccurate, primarily because of the complexity of the shape and flexibility of the material.
At one point, the Mackay team tried a conventional computerized measuring machine (CMM) for inspection. A CMM requires extensive set up and an absolutely fixed target. The more cramped that engine compartments became, the more difficult and time consuming it was to measure their parts with a CMM. Neither hand measurements nor CMMs provided documentation support Mackay needed.
"ZScanning greatly reduces the time it takes to determine hose specification and, more importantly, provides a far greater degree of accuracy -- both essential in today's competitive environment," said Tatas. Mackay can include the heat map images in its customer documentation to objectively demonstrate the quality of the finished product. This capability has helped the company win General Motors' business in the Asia-Pacific region.
ZScanning is part of Mackay's ongoing companywide technology upgrade program, which has been under way over the past 12 months. "This world-class technology provides a real leap forward in improving measurement and inspection, and in enabling the highly detailed reports our customers increasingly require," said Tatas. "This is where this technology comes into its own."
For more information, visit: www.zcorp.com/en/Products/3D-Scanners/spage.aspx
Materialise was invited to the VIP Preview Screening of Ovation's 'MY DESIGN LIFE' at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Jamie Milas, North America Marketing Manager of Materialise was interviewed for one of the episodes that focused on 3D Printing which will air on Wednesday, September 7th at 8:30 PM ET/PT in the United States.
Ovation, design expert Lisa S. Roberts and Nancy Glass Productions have collaborated on a new original series, MY DESIGN LIFE. The series, which consists of ten 30-minute episodes, will air on consecutive Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET on Ovation, the only network dedicated to arts culture.
MY DESIGN LIFE follows Roberts and her design team as they visit museum exhibitions, trade shows, retail stores and designers' studios gathering ideas and inspiration for Roberts' upcoming book, DESIGNPOP: POPULAR TRENDS IN CONTEMPORARY PRODUCT DESIGN. Episodes include visits to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the design studios of Harry Allen and Tony Wurman; restaurants, including David Rockwell's Pod and Christine Liaigre's Buddakan; and retail stores such as Design Within Reach and Moss.
Jamie Milas was interviewed at Moss on Thursday, July 14 for the 3D printing episode. The crew filmed the various .MGX by Materialise collection pieces that are on display at Moss while Jamie explained about Materialise and 3D printing. Lisa Roberts also interviewed Patrick Jouin during this same episode about his beautiful (yet functional) creations such as the Bloom.MGX and the The One_Shot.MGX which exemplify exactly what Lisa is going after, "to make art and design accessible to people in their daily lives".
MY DESIGN LIFE is produced by Nancy Glass Productions. Nancy Glass, Sara Baxter and Lisa S. Roberts are Executive Producers.
For more information and schedule, please visit www.ovationtv.com or www.mydesignlife.tv
For an industry that is constantly advancing, the technical conference at IPC Midwest Conference & Exhibition on September 21–22, in Schaumburg, Ill., will feature five sessions offering the latest research, methodologies and insights from industry experts to address critical challenges of manufacturing defect-free, quality electronics.
To help engineers meet increasingly stringent performance requirements, the session, "Test and Measurement Solutions," will spotlight research from Robisan Laboratory, Foresite, Agilent Technologies, Kyzen, IEC Electronics and Precision Analytical Laboratory that addresses issues from nanotechnology-based measurements for evaluating roughness of copper conductors on printed boards to evaluations of the combination of materials and processes for determining surface insulation resistance and electrochemical migration performance. In addition, Trace Laboratories will review a means to develop a counterfeit inspection procedure for incoming materials.
In "Minimizing Defects in Assembly Processing," experts from DfR Solutions, Research In Motion Ltd., and IPC will guide participants through critical issues that influence defect levels in assembly processing, including the utilization of design for reliability (DFR) concepts to eliminate common mistakes at the design level. Also, the latest work from the IPC Solder Products Value Council (SPVC) and a new industry standard addressing visual examination and cross-sectioning for the evaluation of underfills will be discussed.
Improving printed board functionality and minimizing space through the use of both embedded and bottom termination components have received increased industry focus, but each comes with its own set of implementation challenges. To address these challenges, presentations from Solberg Technical Consulting, Indium and Ray Prasad Consultancy will be featured in, "Bottom Termination and Embedded Component Challenges." In addition, the session will cover the difficulties of achieving good yields due to package and printed board planarity issues that bottom termination components pose (with their absence of solder balls), as well as voiding, resulting from the outgassing of solder paste flux in proximity to thermal pads.
In "Lead-Free Solder Alloys and Thermal Cycling Performance," experts from Indium, Rockwell Collins, Christopher Associates and Cobar Europe B.V. will address the minute changes in alloy content that can improve drop shock and thermal cycle reliability of low-silver alloys. Participants will also be privy to two revealing studies: an investigation of a solder joint integrity assessment of tin/bismuth component surface finishes in both tin-lead and lead-free free soldering processes under thermal cycling conditions, and a ten-year study of the consistency of alloys in wave soldering processes, including contamination and copper leaching.
New research from Continental Automotive Systems, DfR Solutions and Christopher Associates will highlight the last session on September 22, "Assembly Materials and Component Reliability Testing." This session will provide test data on a number of programs, including a comparison of solder spread results for multiple printed board surface finishes using various lead-free solder pastes; a methodology for predicting the reliability of complex ICs, such as FPGAS, ADCs and memory; and a report of performance results for a new plasma polymer printed board surface finish, including storage robustness, corrosion resistance and solderability.
Complete information on the technical sessions at IPC Midwest is available at www.IPCMidwestShow.org/conference. Attendees who register by August 19 can take 20 percent off their registration fees. Other special registration packages and options, including free exhibit hall registration, may be viewed at www.IPCMidwestShow.org/Register.
RS Components (RS), the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products and the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), and Accelerated Designs today announced the introduction of a new series of component libraries to provide customers with schematic symbols and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) footprints for an extensive range of products from STMicroelectronics and Microchip Technology.
Thousands of PCB footprints and schematic symbols are available for free download in a vendor-neutral format from the RS online DesignSpark electronics design community and resource centre, and can be exported to virtually any EDA and CAD/CAE system using Accelerated Designs' Ultra Librarian (UL) translator software, thus saving the design engineer valuable time and effort in the CAD design process. The UL Reader also supports the free DesignSpark PCB design tool from RS that offers powerful schematic capture and PCB layout software.
Martin Keenan, Programme Manager for DesignSpark PCB at RS Components, said, "RS is committed to supporting the needs of electronics design engineers and to removing barriers to innovation. Engineers today spend a considerable amount of time creating symbols and footprints for their particular CAD suite. Accelerated Designs' free UL Reader simplifies this process and helps speed up the 'Find, Design and Buy' activities of our Electronics customers."
"Making our free Ultra Librarian software available through the RS online DesignSpark resource centre means that our customers can easily access all of the critical data they need to begin the CAD design process. This collaboration will help accelerate time to market for their products," commented Frank Frank, President of Accelerated Designs.
The free Ultra Librarian software, including footprints and symbols, is available now for download at: www.designspark.com
As you know, Creaform works tirelessly to maintain its position as a leader and groundbreaker in 3D digitizing. This is why we are proud to launch the 2nd worldwide edition of the PUT US TO THE TEST 2011 challenge.
By entering this contest, you have the opportunity to make the project you've always dreamed of a reality! You know, the project that you've been cherishing for ages, and for which time, human resources and/or required technology you simply couldn't find...
Among the candidacies received, we will pick the 3 most challenging of them to put our 3D Engineering skills to the test...once again.
• One (1) Nothing is impossible! prize ($20,000 value)
• Two (2) Consider it done! prizes ($2,000 ea. value)
Whatever your industry or the scope of your project, we are eager to push back our limits whether we're talking 3D scanning, long-range scanning, inspection, reverse engineering, design or FEA.
Dare to submit your project, even if you are convinced that it is mission impossible! Picture the possibilities ahead of you if you were to be picked out!
For more information, visit: http://www.creaform3d.com/en/contests/put-us-to-the-test.aspx
Winners of the 2011 Design for Digital Manufacturing (DDM) Competition were announced at the annual Society of Manufacturing Engineers' (SME) RAPID Conference & Exposition earlier this year. Students from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell came away with both first and third place finishes while students from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville finished in second place.
The DDM Competition is held every year and students from around the country are encouraged to submit unique products that are made utilizing DDM techniques and materials. This year's contestants had to design a product intended to be, or be part of, a system that utilizes direct digital manufacturing. The product must be able to be used in another assembly and the design should represent a fully functioning prototype. The competition is conducted by SME's Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing Community (RTAM) community whose goal is to illustrate the impacts and benefits of direct digital manufacturing.
This year's first place winners were University of Massachusetts-Lowell students Adam McLaughlin, Jordan Tye, Lisabet Sizer and Mark Damplo for their "Custom Forearm Crutch Handgrip with Integrated iPod Controller and Flashlight". Their unique design allows people who are in need of crutches to comfortably and seamlessly control an iPod while walking. When asked why they decided to design this particular product, the team explained, "With such a large number of crutches sold, if this product could reach even just a small fraction of crutch users, the product would still be making a huge positive impact on the lives of disabled people".
In second place came Edward Schwartzkopf, Jr., Ismail Kuru, Andrew Parcels and Paul Jansen of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville for their design of an adjustable blade ceiling fan. Their design would allow for a more economical and efficient ceiling fan than standard, multiple-speed fans. This is accomplished through minimal assembly and simplified secondary components such as a single-speed motor and no additional wiring or switches.
Finally, in third place came students Joshua Valley, Benjamin Zlindra-Short and Jon Salerno, also from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Their DDM-designed custom Playstation 3 controller allows for gamers to have more options when personalizing or modifying their video game systems.
"All of this year's winners were outstanding for not only their ingenuity, but also for their ability to recognize products that consumers can actually use and appreciate," said David Leigh, vice chair for the RTAM community. "We are pleased to see direct digital manufacturing being used in such innovative ways."
For more information, visit: www.sme.org/ddmcompetition
GlobalSpec, the leading provider of online marketing programs for companies targeting the engineering, technical and manufacturing communities, today announced the release of GlobalSpec Electronics , a targeted online resource designed to meet the specific needs of electronics professionals – and suppliers interested in reaching this specialized audience.
GlobalSpec has long been dedicated to serving the electronics audience with tools needed to source products, network and gather information. GlobalSpec Electronics offers the nearly 500,000 electronics engineers, purchasers and related professionals who are registered with GlobalSpec an enhanced resource to discover product information and content in hundreds of electronics categories, including processors, programmable logic, development and simulation tools, power conversion and power management, and related categories. Visitors to www.globalspec.com/electronics have access to millions of electronics datasheets, and can also search for electronic components by part number.
To facilitate information-gathering and networking opportunities within this targeted electronics audience, GlobalSpec has also launched the Electronics Design Center. Located at www.globalspec.com/electronics/design-center, this online resource offers a wealth of content for electronics professionals, - including videos, application notes, reference designs, white papers, and news relevant to the electronics industry, as well as the ability to connect with peers and manufacturers and gather information – all in one convenient location.
For suppliers, GlobalSpec Electronics offers multiple opportunities to deliver their messages and product information to a targeted electronics audience. Companies can advertise in a variety of electronics industry marketing programs, including more than 20 electronics e-newsletters with a combined reach of more than two million opt-in subscribers; an electronics ad network of targeted Web sites reaching the electronics marketplace; and online events and custom Webinars attended by decision makers within the electronics industry. Suppliers also have the opportunity to put their datasheets online as part of GlobalSpec's electronics searchable catalog program, making them easily accessible to potential customers as they search by keyword, category, specification or part number. In addition, companies can present themselves as thought leaders with targeted white paper and video sponsorships via the Electronics Design Center.
GlobalSpec Chairman and CEO Jeff Killeen said the following about GlobalSpec Electronics' suite of services: "By making this significant commitment to the electronics market, we are able to help electronics engineers and related professionals quickly and easily meet their goals, while providing suppliers with a comprehensive media solution that showcases their companies, brands, products and services to this targeted audience – online and in their inboxes – during all phases of their design, research and purchasing process."
The Association For Manufacturing Technology and IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show have sponsored Modern Machine Shop's inaugural Top Shops benchmarking survey, which includes 10 firms being named 2011 Top Shops award winners. The results are appearing in the August 2011 issue of Modern Machine Shop.
"We are very excited to sponsor this program that honors some of the country's top machining firms. Beyond just recognizing these companies, however, we hope that it's a useful tool for other companies to find ways that they too can improve their sales, productivity, and profitability," said Peter Eelman, VP-Exhibitions & Communications at AMT, show organizers for IMTS. "These survey results offer an unparalleled look at what others in the industry are doing, and how you as a business measure up by comparison." AMT and IMTS have a long history of supporting publishing partner programs of this type.
Top Shops is a comprehensive benchmarking program for machine shops of all types and sizes. Using data from surveys completed by 183 machining businesses of varying sizes, Top Shops identifies optimal shop floor practices, as well as operational and business metrics that define world-class competitiveness in discrete parts manufacturing. Companies ranging from small job shops to large captive operations can see how they compare against the country's leading machining businesses, which enables them to make sound decisions to emulate those identified as top-performing operations. Not only does the benchmarking data serve as a baseline "report card," but it eliminates the need for shop executives to rely on gut feelings as a method of identifying and prioritizing improvement efforts.
The Top Shops benchmarking initiative included an Honors Program to highlight the shops that comprise the top 20-percent benchmarking group. These shops represent a quality cross section of U.S. machining businesses relative to location, size and industries served. The 10 award winners each shared what they feel is the "one big thing" that most contributed to their success. Answers were diverse and included: lights-out machining, high-speed machining, lean manufacturing, CAD/CAM software utilization, customer focus and willingness to invest in capital equipment.
For three years now, Henkel has been engaging in promoting young engineers. In addition to offering numerous training programs, participation in the annual Formula Student contest for engineering students at the Hockenheimring has become a central component of Henkel's commitment in this area. The special award for best use of adhesive, which Henkel instituted in 2009, was won this year by the team from Bayreuth University.
The design competition attracts a great deal of interest internationally, with teams from colleges and universities from all over the world taking part. It ranks as a kind of unofficial Olympics for engineering students. Competing against all other entrants, the teams have to design and build the prototype of a new racing car from scratch, present it as a business case, and test its performance in various trials and a final race. 78 teams in the Combustion category and 31 more in the Electric category made it to the final round to be judged at the Hockenheimring at the beginning of August.
For the General Industry business of Henkel as one of the main sponsors, the five-day event is one of the highlights every year. Up to eight Henkel adhesives experts were available at any time to give the contestants advice or lend a helping hand – in the pits, working on the cars themselves, or at the Henkel stand. The latter was not only well-stocked with high-performance repair and maintenance products from Henkel's Loctite and Teroson brands, but also featured workbenches and even a heating cabinet to accelerate curing of different adhesives.
Special award for best use of adhesive
In order to inspire these enthusiastic students to become even more creative, Henkel established a special award for the best use of adhesive throughout the whole contest. Submissions are judged on the attractiveness and creativity of the bonding application, the way the adhesive was selected and verified, the presentation made to the jury, and the students' knowledge about bonding technologies.
From a large number of submissions, seven teams made it through to the final round. The award went to Bayreuth University, ahead of last year's winner Zwickau University, with Coburg University taking third place.
"Last year, the entries were already of a very high standard," says Rudolf Neumayer, Head of Application Technology, Industrial Adhesives, Europe. "But this year, they raised the bar several notches further. This trend shows that we are definitely moving in the right direction with our educational approach."
Henkel's level of engagement in the entire contest earned high praise, not only from the contestants themselves but also from the organizer. "Henkel was present with a large team and often performed last-minute rescue jobs," said Ludwig Vollrath of VDI (the Association of German Engineers), who is in charge of the event. "People were highly impressed by that."
Multiplier effect and greater awareness of the brands
Henkel therefore also profits from this commitment. "The five-day finale of the contest was itself attended by around 2,500 students, professors and design specialists," says Patricia Silva, Marketing Manager, General Industry. "No other event throughout the year draws so many highly interested people with a will to experiment. Having such a representative target group all in one place means that we can achieve important multiplier effects and heightened awareness of our brands."
"Bonding is simply the most dependable solution!"
This view is shared by many people, including Moritz Berard (23), a student from Karlsruhe University, who participated in the contest. "For me, bonding is one of the best solutions there are, and easily the simplest and most dependable one," says Berard summing up. "It opens up whole new worlds and gives an immense amount of design freedom."
Although more and more students beginning to realize this, Henkel's engagement is actually a medium to long-term investment that not many companies take the trouble to make. But the benefits can already be estimated today, thinks Alfred Kaltenbach, Area Sales Manager for Baden-Württemberg of Henkel's General Industry business.
"In Germany alone, about 2,200 young engineering graduates start their careers by going straight from university into private enterprise, where sooner or later they will occupy key positions," he explains. "When engineers who have previously learned about our adhesives and sealants then design new components, they will already be familiar with all the advantages of adhesive bonding technologies and will include this joining technique in their design considerations right from the beginning. This way, adhesive bonding, which was unfortunately often regarded as a last resort in the past, will gain the status it deserves. And we intend to make sure that the young engineers' experiences with Henkel have been entirely positive."
For more information, visit: www.henkel.com
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, debuted a range of new AutoCAD products built for Mac OS X Lion: AutoCAD 2012 for Mac, AutoCAD LT 2012 for Mac and AutoCAD WS for Mac software. This marks the first time Autodesk has offered AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD WS for the Mac.
The new portfolio of AutoCAD products for Mac expands options for millions of users of the popular design, documentation and collaboration software. AutoCAD 2012 for Mac was built specifically for OS X Lion and helps users create stunning designs on their platform of choice. AutoCAD LT for Mac enables users to document designs, optimize workflow and collaborate with colleagues and clients. AutoCAD WS for Mac enables users to view and collaborate on DWG files through the Mac interface. In addition, AutoCAD WS users can plot DWG files to PDF or DWF formats and sync with their cloud-based AutoCAD WS account, making files accessible from their AutoCAD WS mobile app. AutoCAD LT 2012 for Mac and AutoCAD WS for Mac are available exclusively in the Mac App Store.
"Since the release of AutoCAD for Mac last year, customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, further validating the need for professional design and engineering software on the Mac platform," said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business. "Bringing AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD WS to the Mac shows our continued commitment to making design more accessible for an ever-greater number of people to shape the world around them."
AutoCAD for Mac 2012 software includes familiar AutoCAD capabilities, such as 2D and 3D design tools, and includes 3D free-form modeling capabilities; 3D visualization and rendering; network licensing; advanced customization of the menus; support for LISP and ObjectARX and ObjectDBX applications; and more. AutoCAD LT for Mac follows common native Mac application user interface guidelines, with a familiar Apple menu bar together with a number of workflow-based palettes. AutoCAD LT for Mac also supports native Mac OS X behavior, including Cover Flow navigation and Multi-Touch gestures.
AutoCAD LT for Mac is perfectly suited for designers, architects and engineers who prefer to work in a native Mac environment and need to create, edit or review designs, technical drawings and documentation.
Like the popular AutoCAD WS mobile app Autodesk released last September, AutoCAD WS for Mac is a simple, free* app providing basic, intuitive tools for viewing, editing and sharing designs. Through its synchronous coediting feature, users may also collaborate on designs across multiple platforms — desktop, mobile and web.
AutoCAD LT for Mac Brings Professional Apps to Mac App Store
By delivering professional design and documentation software native for Mac OS X via the Mac App Store, Autodesk is helping professionals find design software for all their needs.
"Autodesk has done an incredible job bringing their apps to the Mac," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "AutoCAD for Mac has been a huge hit with Mac users and we're thrilled to see Autodesk offer AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD WS as Mac App Store exclusives."
With support for creating and editing files right within the DWG file format, AutoCAD for Mac and AutoCAD LT for Mac provide easier collaboration with suppliers, customers, clients and partners, regardless of platform. Files created in previous versions of AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT are easily opened in Mac versions of the products, boosting design productivity by reducing time-consuming file translation or cleanup of converted data.
AutoCAD for Mac 2012 is offered free* to students and educators through the Autodesk Education Community, where more than 25 Autodesk software products are already available for download to inspire learning and prepare students for successful careers. Autodesk appreciates the popularity of the Mac platform among students and is providing AutoCAD for Mac so they can build skills through access to the same software that design professionals use every day.
AutoCAD for Mac 2012 and AutoCAD WS for Mac will be available worldwide on August 19, 2011. AutoCAD LT for Mac will only be available in the U.S. and Canada on August 16, 2011.
For more information, visit: www.autodesk.com/autocadformac
Altair Engineering, Inc., a leading global provider of simulation technology and engineering services, has announced its HyperWorks 11.0 Americas Rollout Series, a series of one-day workshops aimed at educating customers and partners on the features and updates in HyperWorks 11.0, the latest version of Altair's computer-aided engineering (CAE) software suite.
HyperWorks 11.0 was officially unveiled during Altair's 2011 Americas HyperWorks Technology Conference on June 22. Product highlights include the addition of two new software products to the HyperWorks suite: AcuSolve and solidThinking. HyperWorks 11.0 also offers a greatly extended breadth of solver solutions in RADIOSS, allowing engineers to efficiently address today's complex design challenges.
During the workshops, attendees will receive an overview of HyperWorks 11.0 and learn tips and tricks geared towards increasing efficiency in the workplace. Admission is free, includes lunch and refreshments and the opportunity to engage with Altair application engineers and technical experts for deeper insights into HyperWorks 11.0.
"As we extend the value of HyperWorks with every release, the HyperWorks 11.0 Rollout Series showcases the continued investment in our customers and partners by providing them with a more extensive overview of the newest additions to the HyperWorks suite," said Michael Humphrey, Vice Presedent, Altair Americas Field Operations. "It is our goal through these events to educate and train our customers and partners on best practices in leveraging our software to its full capacity so that they can continuously improve upon and maximize their productivity."
Upcoming HyperWorks 11.0 Americas Rollout Series events include:
Western Michigan University College of Engineering
Kalamazoo, MI, August 18
Microsoft Technology Center
Chicago, IL, September 7
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC, September 14
EDU Day
Troy, MI, September 15
Altair Headquarters
Troy, MI, September 29
Altair Headquarters
Troy, MI, October 5
Attendees of the Kalamazoo and Troy, Mich., and Chicago workshops will be able to participate in hands-on training labs that include a Q&A session with HyperWorks 11.0 experts. Customers and partners interested in attending can register for free on the HyperWorks website.
Rapid Machining, a dedicated rapid prototype machine shop will be holding an open house at their facility on Saturday August 20th from 8:00am – 1:00pm. The open house will provide an opportunity for prospective employees to take a tour through the facility and talk with Human Resources as well as Management about the benefits of working for a rapidly growing prototype machine shop.
"The open house is a great chance to converse and share our values with prospective employees" said James Jacobs, President of Rapid Machining. "Offering this sort of hands on opportunity gives people the ability to get a glimpse of what they can get involved in and to see new benefits and opportunities of working for a of growing rapid prototyping machine shop."
Rapid Machining is one of the largest dedicated Rapid Prototype Machining companies in the country. Working in a variety of plastics and metals including delrin and aluminum, Rapid Machining delivers parts complete to customer prints including drilling, tapping and inserting heli-coils as required. Typical quantities of custom machined prototypes are one to twenty parts.
Date: Saturday August 20th
Time: 8:00am – 1:00pm
Location: 165 Ledge Street, Nashua, NH
Phone: 603.821.5200
Rapid Machining is dedicated to rapid prototype machined parts. Quotes are turned around in hours, not days. Parts are shipped in days, not weeks. Prototypes are machined to 3D CAD data. Common machined parts include shafts, blocks, bodies, heatsinks, pistons, mounts, brackets and covers. Materials machined include aluminum, steel, stainless steel, copper, Radel, Delrin and Lexan. Finishing services include plating such as anodizing and chromating, painting, powdercoating, and silkscreening to customer specifications. Rapid Machining is a sister company of Rapid Sheet Metal Inc, a quick turn prototype sheet metal fabricator.
For more information, visit: www.rapidmachining.com
Forecast 3D is pleased to announce the addition of a new Fortus 900mc FDM machine from Stratasys Corp. The Fortus 900mc offers an extremely large build envelope, measuring 36" x 24" x79.8".
The new machine will be able to print parts in a variety of materials, including ABS (in both black and white), Ultem 9085, PC-ABS, Polycarbonate, PPSF Polyphenylsulfone, Polycarbonate and PC-ISO. In addition to the machine, Forecast 3D also added STRATASYS' vapor finishing chamber, which will allow parts to receive vapor polishing as an added functional and more attractive finish.
"We believe in FDM technology as a leading Additive Manufacturing technology, and the Fortus 900 machine is the perfect addition to give our customers another option to bring designs to life," says Donovan Weber, VP of Operations at Forecast. "We can now create very large components rapidly with one of our nine available production thermoplastics."
News of the Fortus purchase comes just weeks after Forecast 3D launched their new website along with a new "My Account" feature, which allows customers the ability to maintain a personalized interface with all quotes and orders. The newest feature to the website includes an instant file conversion software interface, allowing users to upload files from nearly any design software output without the need to convert to .stl.
Specifically, the new upload and convert feature will allow customers to upload files in .sldprt, .igs, .stp, and native ProE & SolidWorks extensions and the site will instantly convert the file to an .stl for quick quote throughput. Once uploaded, a request for quote for every available service and material can also be selected.
Forecast3D is a world class Rapid Manufacturing facility specializing in high-quality rapid prototyping, 3D printing (SLA, SLS, FDM, Objet, and DMLS), direct digital manufacturing and CNC machining, and is well known in the industry for its unique ProCAST RTV & Hybrid Tooling capabilities.
Forecast 3D utilizes additive manufacturing equipment by 3D Systems (NASDAQ:TDSC), Electro Optical Systems GmbH, Stratasys (SSYS) and Objet Geometries, and has been in business since 1994.
For more information, visit: www.forecast3d.com
Paramount Industries, Inc., a world-class product development - rapid deployment, and manufacturing services company, today announced its participation at AUVSI's Unmanned Systems North America 2011.
In response to aerospace and defense industry demand for selective laser sintering materials for direct digital manufacturing of non-structural aircraft components, Paramount has developed laser sintering processes with high-temperature, electrostatic-discharge (ESD) compliant laser sintering materials that have heat deflection temperatures in excess of 320°C and are chemical resistant, non-out gassing, electrically and thermally conductive.
"High temperature laser sintering is breakthrough technology and offers significant advantages for manufacturing across all industries, particularly aerospace and defense applications where high temperature and electrically conductive materials are critical factors," said Jim Williams, president and CEO of Paramount Industries.
High Temperature Laser Sintering Displayed in Booth #2209:
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Components: Paramount Industries High Temperature Sintering (HTS) machine processing technology, advanced machine controls and carbon fiber composites – including revolutionary sinterable nanocomposite materials – were developed for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program.
Paramount Industries is the recipient of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and continues to develop selective materials and processes for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, as well as many other aerospace, defense and medical applications.
"We are thrilled to offer R&D expertise for direct digital manufacturing of aerospace parts and components for projects such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Honeywell T-Hawk," says Williams "It is an honor to bring innovation to the Warfighter when it's new and when it's needed the most."
Paramount Industries prototyped and manufactured key components for the T-Hawk, an unmanned micro air vehicle (UAV) designed to enhance mission effectiveness, provide situational awareness for US combat troops.
For more information, visit: www.paramountind.com or http://symposium.auvsi.org/auvsi11/public/enter.aspx
FMA Communications Inc. announces the online debut of the 2011 FAB 40 company list on its website.
The list, posted under the "FAB 40" navigational tab or directly at www.thefabricator.com/fab40, ranks the most successful U.S. metal fabricating companies as profiled in the June 2011 issue of The FABRICATOR®. The FAB 40 list is created with the input from those metal fabricators willing to share their revenue numbers and company information with The FABRICATOR and its readership.
"The FAB 40 list has quickly become an important resource for fabricators looking for solutions in today's manufacturing environment," said Jim Gorzek, associate publisher of FMA Communications Inc. "The list is beneficial to both the companies listed as well as the readers, and it has become a fast-growing feature in the magazine and now online."
Metal fabricating companies interested in participating in the 2012 ranking can find more information and apply online at www.fma-communications.com/fab40. The metal forming and fabricating industry's leading online resource, thefabricator.com attracts thousands of unique visitors every month who are looking for articles, news and products they need to operate and grow their businesses. Thefabricator.com adheres to the same editorial standards as all publications from FMA Communications, and content is divided into tech cells that allow visitors to zero in on their areas of interest.
FMA Communications Inc., the publishing affiliate of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, currently serves the metal forming and fabricating industry by publishing business-to-business magazines, e-newsletters, vendor directories and websites.
Rockford, Ill.-based Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA) is a professional organization with nearly 2,300 members working together to improve the metal forming and fabricating industry. Founded in 1970, FMA brings metal fabricators and fabricating equipment manufacturers together through technology councils, educational programs, networking events, industry trade publications including The FABRICATOR®, and Green Manufacturer, and the FABTECH® trade show. FMA also has two technology affiliates: the Tube & Pipe Association, International (TPA), which focuses on the unique needs of companies engaged in tube and pipe producing and fabricating, and the Green Manufacturer Network (GMN) which serves the employees of companies that are focused on improving their utilization of green technologies.
INEOS Styrenics today announces the launch of ZYLAR® 960 resin. 960 is the newest addition to the ZYLAR product line of clear, impact-modified styrene acrylic copolymers, and sets the bar for a new level of practical toughness without adversely affecting resin clarity. With a typical notched Izod impact strength of 11 ft-lb/inch, ZYLAR 960 was engineered for demanding injection molding applications.
For the past 20 years the ZYLAR family of clear, impact resistant resins has been synonymous with toughness and ease of processing in applications from housewares to medical devices. The newest addition to the product family, ZYLAR 960, expands and enhances the ZYLAR product line by offering practical toughness in the range of many grades of polycarbonate. Building on its proud styrenic heritage, ZYLAR 960 has a lower density and provides processing advantages over alternative resins like polycarbonate and copolyesters.
With ongoing efforts by molders to manage high energy costs and reduce molding cycle times, the value and performance provided by ZYLAR resins has never been greater. The low density, excellent flow properties, and low moisture retention of ZYLAR resins can result in significant energy savings and processing efficiencies. Add to this the fact that all INEOS Styrenics High Performance resins, including ZYLAR, NAS®, and CLEARBLEND®, are manufactured without bisphenol A or phthalates for safe use in infant care, houseware, and medical applications.
The launch of ZYLAR 960 demonstrates the commitment of INEOS Styrenics to being an industry leading and customer focused organization, delivering consistently innovative, high quality products and services.
For more information, visit: www.ineosstyrenics.com
As a leading global chemical company focused on bringing innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, The Dow Chemical Company launched today the Dow Solar Design to Zero Competition, an international challenge open to architecture, design and engineering students and professionals. The competition challenges students to develop innovative projects incorporating active and passive solar technologies, among other sustainable construction-related solutions, to design near-zero energy multi-family dwellings.
"Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Dow, so this competition is a great way to learn from today's students about the type of sustainable design solutions we need to foster for the future," explained Pat Nugent, director of new business development, Dow Solar. "Having this type of global collaboration and input is also a wonderful way to find creative approaches to incorporating energy efficiency and solar capabilities into a home. The aesthetics are becoming more important for consumers who want to live more sustainably, but don't want their lifestyle or home to be compromised, so it will be especially exciting to see the blend of art and science in these near zero designs."
Given the collaborative nature of the competition and the increasingly interconnectedness of the Information Age, the competition will live exclusively online at www.designtozero.com . Registration for the competition is open through September 25 (final date for registration payment). All proceeds from registration will go toward an NGO to be announced by Dow Solar. All final housing designs must be submitted by October 31. The prizes, including first, second and third prize winners of $20,000, $10,000, and $5,000 will be announced at an event in the Spring of 2012.
The Dow Solar Design to Zero competition aligns with Dow's commitment and vision articulated in its ambitious 2015 sustainability goals, which include developing and applying innovative technologies and collaborations that further sustainability. The Dow Solar Design to Zero Competition also supports Dow's role as global partner in the U.N.-designated 2011 International Year of Chemistry. The initiative celebrates achievements in science and the potential of chemistry to address world challenges, encourage interest in chemistry among young people and generate enthusiasm for the creative future of this science.
SGI (NASDAQ: SGI), a trusted leader in technical computing, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of OpenCFD Ltd., the leader in open source computational fluid dynamics.
"Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is one of the most important application areas for technical computing," said SGI CEO Mark J. Barrenechea. "With the acquisition of OpenCFD Ltd., SGI will be able to provide our customers the market's first fully integrated CFD solution, where all the hardware and software work together."
OpenCFD is the leader in open source CFD software and has a large, active user base across commercial engineering, science and the public sector. OpenCFD is the developer of the OpenFOAM® software, consisting of over 80 solver and 170 utility applications - solving anything from complex fluid flows involving chemical reactions, turbulence and heat transfer to solid dynamics and electromagnetics. Customers benefit from the fact that OpenFOAM is an open platform and offers them immediate access and freedom to customize and extend its existing capabilities.
"We are excited to be part of SGI and now be able to take OpenFOAM to the next level," said Henry Weller, founder of OpenCFD. "OpenFOAM is the highest quality code available for CFD. The open source model provides customers with the code transparency and the full view into the inner workings of the software they need to have confidence in the results, particularly when they perform safety calculations for projects such as nuclear reactors or aircraft design."
CFD is accelerating product design and development across multiple industries by eliminating the need to build expensive physical prototypes. Using CFD, companies can model and simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with solid surfaces, addressing one of the key challenges in creating almost any product, from bikes to airplanes, propellers to turbines, or from potato chips to silicon chips. Companies worldwide are creating the future on SGI systems, and by providing an open platform for CFD, SGI is making CFD available to all product engineers around the world.
"TotalSim believes that the acquisition of OpenCFD by SGI and the formation of the OpenFOAM Foundation will provide the long-term stability, resources and structure for the continued success of OpenFOAM," said Rob Lewis, managing director at OpenCFD customer TotalSim. "TotalSim is looking forward to continuing the relationship through SGI and working together to further expand the use and benefit of OpenFOAM to the engineering community."
"In terms of cost, OpenFOAM dramatically lowers the barrier of entry to world class CFD software," said John O. Hallquist, president of independent software vendor Livermore Software Technology Corporation. "By their investment in OpenFOAM, SGI now has the potential to significantly expand the CFD marketplace, not only to existing users, but to new users. This is truly an exciting development."
The entire OpenCFD team, led by Henry Weller, has joined SGI as full-time employees and will be based out of SGI's EMEA Headquarters located in the UK. In addition, SGI has formed a non-profit foundation to make OpenFOAM accessible to everyone and allow for community contributions. SGI is fully committed to the continued development of OpenFOAM, which will continue to be open under the GNU Public License (GPL). The company invites every scientist, developer, engineer and student working in the field of CFD to join the OpenFoam community, download the software for a test drive and to make their own contributions.
"OpenFOAM has built a strong following as an open source CFD solution," said Steve Conway, IDC research vice president for HPC. "SGI aims to give the free, open source version a permanent home where it can flourish, while adding a fee-based version with even fuller features and tighter integration with SGI offerings. This would be a win-win."
In addition to providing free downloads of OpenFOAM source code from the SGI-sponsored OpenFOAM foundation's openfoam.org web site, SGI will offer:
* A fee-based OpenFOAM support subscription to help customers implement and run OpenFoam in their environments.
* A fee-based, fully supported SGI OpenFOAM distribution, including SGI message passing interface (MPI). SGI® OpenFOAM® and SGI® MPI work together to provide the best performance possible.
* Training and professional services for complex CFD deployments on SGI and in other environments.
For companies that would like to start using SGI OpenFOAM today, the full capability is available via the SGI® Cyclone cloud offering.
Financial details of the transaction, which closed on August 8, 2011, were not disclosed.
For more information, visit: www.openfoam.com or www.sgi.com
In response to increasing demand for design engineering services in the Midwest, NOVO Engineering, a privately held, full-service design engineering company headquartered in Vista, California, has opened an office in the Minneapolis-St Paul area.
NOVO Engineering specializes in solving technical challenges and developing robust design solutions for Industrial, Medical and Consumer industry clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. NOVO provides clients with design engineering, CNC machining, rapid prototyping and testing services from concept through transfer to manufacturing.
The new office, located off I-494 and county road 62 in Eden Prairie, is staffed by an elite multi-disciplinary team of engineers recruited from Hewlett Packard's Colorspan operation in Minnetonka that was relocated in May 2011.
Kevin Campion, a professional engineer with 29 years of experience, is a Program Manager at the new facility. "Our team is excited to spearhead this strategic initiative for NOVO," said Campion. "NOVO is known for its engineering excellence. I'm pleased to be a member of such a prestigious team and look forward to offering NOVO's exceptional engineering capabilities to firms in the Minneapolis-St Paul area."
"The decision to expand into the Minneapolis area is part of a strategic plan to manage NOVO's growth," said Dr. Rajan Ramaswamy, President and CTO of NOVO. "Our business model emphasizes a strong local presence, seamlessly supported by capabilities and equipment from other NOVO offices."
Dan Kline, Founder and CEO, adds, "We have worked hard at NOVO to create a business model that lends itself to replication in new markets. We are excited to be in the Minneapolis-St Paul area and hope to boost the local economy with our offering of on-demand world-class design engineering services."
NOVO engineering is a leading privately held design engineering firm whose team of world-class engineers has been exceeding clients' needs since 1997. Since its inception NOVO has been helping companies to generate paradigm-shifting new products, commercialize new technology, overcome resource constraints, provide specific technical expertise and craft custom automation and test equipment.
NOVO's technical staff is the key to NOVO's success - they average 20 years of experience at top-tier companies, many have PhD or graduate degrees, and have been issued over 200 US Patents. When combined with NOVO's engineering infrastructure, NOVO engineers are a potent problem solving force.
For more information, visit: www.novoengineering.com
PlasticsToday and Injection Molding, the plastics industry's source for business-critical information and plastics processing technology insights, today announced that Dr. Neal Elliott, an energy policy, market, and technology thought-leader will present a keynote address entitled, "The Outlook for Manufacturing: Optimism with a Dose of Caution," for the upcoming online conference and tradeshow: Continuous Improvement in Injection Molding on September 8, 2011.
Dr. Neal Elliott, Associate Director for Research at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and an internationally recognized expert and author on energy efficiency and electric motor systems, will provide a high-level view of where energy efficiency technology and policy is now and where it is headed. Dr. Elliott will also provide a clear-cut cost/benefit analysis to help molders decide which steps will carry the biggest payback for their operations.
Dr. Elliott coordinates the overall research efforts of the ACEEE, but his nearly 20 years in Washington D.C. advocating on behalf of energy efficiency, particularly in industry, give him a unique insight into the efforts of manufacturers to reduce power usage and how the intersection of public technology and public policy affect those efforts.
"We are very excited to have Dr. Elliott as the keynote for our first online conference and tradeshow. He has a wealth of insight to offer molders in energy efficiency, as well as an extensive background in energy policy, electric motor systems, combined heat and power, and energy markets," stated Matt Defosse, Editorial Director, PlasticsToday. "Attendees can easily access his webcast simply by registering and logging into the free event with the added opportunity to ask questions after the presentation."
This conference features a series of webcasts that will have specific content covering the path of continuous improvement for injection molders and plastics processing professionals. The keynote will be followed by speaking sessions and panels that include discussions around: Energy Efficiency, Building Better Molds, and Cleanroom Injection Molding. Live Q&A will follow each session.
Registration is free and attendees will also have the opportunity to enter to win an iPad2.
In addition to a series of webcasts, attendees can visit online tradeshow booths staffed by suppliers, consultants, and others able to offer energy-saving equipment and services to the injection molding industry. These spaces will be equipped with white papers, videos, brochures, among other resources, and live-chat capabilities for conversations between attendees and suppliers.
Signature Sponsors for the virtual event include: ENGEL, Milacron LLC, and TMC of America, Inc, and Wittmann Battenfield.
For more information or to register, visit: https://presentations.inxpo.com/Shows/UBM/UBMCanon/PlasticsToday/Microsite/registration.htm
GRZ Software LLC has released a preview build of MeshCAM Version 5, their latest CAM software for 3D CNC machining. Version 5 brings new power and features to the popular MeshCAM line of products.
MeshCAM V5 is the first release to include support for 64-bit CPUs, allowing MeshCAM to load extremely large files without 32-bit memory limitations. The additional memory available can be used for more detailed toolpaths or for toolpaths that cover a much larger area.
This release also includes an "Automatic Toolpath Wizard" to help new users generate efficient toolpaths without deep CNC or CAM knowledge.
"Up to version 4, we were always trying to balance ease-of-use for new users against advanced features for experienced users, two goals that often conflicted with one another. Version 5 will begin to handle these two user groups very differently so that each gets the most benefit possible from MeshCAM. The Automatic Toolpath Wizard is the first step in this new direction," said Robert Grzesek, Founder of GRZ Software LLC.
The Automatic Toolpath Wizard automatically detects the type of geometry loaded, 2D, 2.5D, or 3D, and uses an appropriate set of toolpaths to machine it without detailed input from the user. It also gives feedback about tool selection to give new users the best chance at a good toolpath from day one.
The preview of MeshCAM Version 5 is available to all version 4 customers. Users of earlier versions can contact GRZ Software to receive a temporary license. All users are encouraged to provide feedback throughout the development process. A final release of version 5 is expected in 2012.
With over seven years of experience, GRZ Software provides CNC software to a wide range of industries including, jewelry, woodworking, mold and die, and rapid prototyping. GRZ Software is committed to providing cost-effective CNC software solutions to streamline the manufacturing process.
For more information, visit: www.grzsoftware.com
The TEDxNASA@SiliconValley event, which will feature presentations on "extreme green ideas," will be streamed live online on Wednesday, Aug. 17, from 2:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. PDT.
NASA's four research centers -- Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif; Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif.; Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; Langley Research Center and the National Institute of Aerospace, both in Hampton Va. -- are co-hosting the event. It is modeled after the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conferences that bring together visionaries in technology, entertainment and design to create a dialogue about important global challenges.
"Each of our presenters has a unique perspective on how to achieve a greener world," said Jan Aikins, the lead TEDxNASA organizer from Ames. "Together, at TEDxNASA, they will create a vehicle for discovery, an opportunity for exposure to new ideas and a revisiting of traditional ideas for a new perspective."
Speakers include a research scientist making "ecological forecasts," engineers building sustainable projects in developing countries, a researcher designing aircraft inspired by nature, a former experimental test pilot, and one of the "Women Shaping the 21st Century."
General registration for the event at the San Francisco Marriot Marquis hotel is full. Members of the public who join the online stream at the TEDxNASA website also can participate in a chat forum.
The recorded presentations will be posted after the event at: www.tedxnasa.com
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