At Midest, I discovered an excellent book about how to design parts for moulding. This yellow book is part of the well-known "Something for Dummies" series and has been published in collaboration between the publisher and proto labs, the worldwide specialist for on-line injection moulding and parts machining. Meeting with Bernard Faure, proto labs’ commercial director for France. The concept of proto labs is to provide real parts within very short deadlines. By real parts we mean parts in (…)

On the Swiss booth at Hannover Messe I also met with the specialists from Federtechnik Kaltbrunn. This company aims to offer the whole world of spring technology from one source… Federtechnik Group specialists, Manuel Jud, Area Sales Manager and Toni Rüegg, Technical Sales. The Federtechnik Group has four production sites and over 80 years of experience in the development and manufacture of technical springs from wire and metal strip. The company combines advanced laser technology that (…)

Thanks to the technology of SLS additive manufacturing (Selective Laser Sintering), Ecoparts located in Rüti near Zürich (Switzerland) can achieve functional prototypes in metal and small series of complex parts with very short delivery time. "Ecoparts is the only company of its kind in Switzerland," says Mr. Kündig its director. Working with two EOSint M 270 machines produced by EOS (recently represented in Switzerland by Springmann) this small structure is specialized in the (…)

Proto Labs Limited has recently moved to an expansive, purpose-designed manufacturing facility on Halesfield, one of Shropshire’s largest industrial parks (UK). We met with Bernard Faure responsible for Proto labs France and Richard Vaughan head of European marketing at Midest to discuss the evolution of the company (full article on Eurotec will follow). The company’s new, 12,600 m2 home has ample room for its growing fleet of injection moulding machines and CNC machine tools, and is (…)

Fritz Schiess AG carries out complex parts by fineblanking using leading-edge technologies. It is equipped with new presses in order to increase its manufacturing performance. Thanks to intelligent solutions implemented to address the issues of design and tooling, the company is now able to increase its production rates. Characteristics Fritz Schiess AG produces gears and many small precision parts and assemblies using a method of fine blanking enabling a considerable reduction of (…)

The Ruby-Precis/Micropierre group has grown considerably in 2009 in all metals machining: stainless steels of every type, titanium, tungsten, molybdenum, or, Platinum, as well as in ultra hard materials like technical ceramic, sapphire, silica, carbide Current capacities for metals are from diameters 0.40 to 32 mm, tolerance 1 micron on some machines with 10 axes, 45 tools and counter-spindle. A new workshop of 500 sqm equipped with NC lathes and machining centers is operational since (…)

The company design and implement industrial laser applications. Advices, research and development and production of metallic parts are the main activities of the company. Parts created layer by layer The fusion process can generate large-volume components layer-by-layer using 3D CAD data. Laser Jura only uses original materials, no powder mixes, are used which are uniquely suitable to manufacture cooled tool inserts for instance. The process allows complex component geometries to be (…)

Two or three hours of downtime represents a non-acceptable loss of production, moreover if the company produces just in time for the automotive industry, the risk of stopping a production chain is also not an option. For this reason the subcontractor Balduini located next to Bologne (Italy) has invested in a generator that ensures his energy supply even in the event of a failure in the delivering network. Meeting with a visionary entrepreneur in Castel Guelfo (Bologne). Specialist for (…)

When you type ["Turkey"->http://www.tourismturkey.org on Internet you arrive quickly to websites that emphasize the beauty of the country and all the holiday possibilities. With its slogan Turkey welcomes you, the Turkish tourism office do a great job. But Turkey is also an industrial country that has nothing to be jealous of other countries. We went to Gebze/Kocaeli, at about 80 km from Istanbul International Airport to meet a Tornos customer, Cengiz Makina. Ms Cigdem Calvez, Plant (…)