Modern AlchemyPage3

Protomold in the UKPage6

“Light” ReadingPage7

in this issue:

2005Issue 4 The Protomold Company, Inc.

&innovation

technology

Rapid injection Molding

TheIronBridgestandsamongthestatelyhomesandRomanruinsofTelford,ShropshireintheUK.Completedin1779,itwasthefirstofitskind,amajortechnologicalfeat,andanemblemoftheIndustrialRevolution.(SeeSToRy,Page6)

> exeCUTIvevIew

I was thinking about the impressive economic changes taking place in India and China, when an ad for Disney’s new movie, Chicken Little, caught my eye. These fast-growing Asian contenders in manufacturing are certainly impacting world markets, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that, as Chicken Little proclaimed, “the sky is falling.”

First, let’s give credit where it is due. According to Business Week, in the last 15 years the city of shanghai has built an entire Manhattan’s worth of skyscrapers. In one generation, China has tripled its per-capita income. Over the next

five years, India’s share of outsourced business in hardware, software, and other areas of development will quadruple to $56 billion per year.

China and India are growing at 9.5 percent and six percent, respectively. Together they graduate 500,000 engineers a year, while the u.s. produces just 60,000. McKinsey Global Institute predicts that within three years they will have twice as many young researchers as the u.s. In short, while cheap labor has boosted growth in India and China, it doesn’t appear that either is counting on low-cost labor for the long term.

In a sense, they are where the u.s. was 200 years ago. Where the u.s. had a resource-rich continent and a river of eager immigrants, they have a product-hungry world and eager

indigenous populations. As the u.s. had, they have obstacles to overcome. Theirs include low literacy, weak market systems, and shortage of infrastructure. But, just as we did, they are moving away from copycat manufacturing toward education and invention.

We cannot stay ahead by simply buying better equipment, as our competitors can easily do the same. And even though their labor costs will rise with time, as happened in Japan and other industrializing nations in the past, we cannot expect to compete on labor costs. some areas—commodity manufacturing based purely on price—may have to be ceded to our overseas competitors. But at the leading edge, where innovation makes all the difference, we can and must compete. Fortunately, this is where our greatest strength lies.

America has always been particularly hospitable to innovation and innovators; witness the fact that leading researchers from all around the world still come here to work. This is good news, because at the leading edge cost is not the primary issue. Consumers and businesses alike are willing to “pay up” for the product that does what competing products cannot. That means being first to market with an offering competitors cannot match. It means speeding up development to keep the pipeline full. And it means better design for easy, cost-effective manufacturing. Better, faster prototyping speeds up development, improves product, and can slash the cost of manufacturing, and today’s prototyping is all about technology.

You’re probably wondering about the significance of the bridge pictured on the cover. I don’t know if there will ever be a Plastic Bridge, but the world’s first iron bridge was highly innovative in its day and is located near Protomold’s new uK manufacturing facility. This issue of the Journal celebrates innovation, in hardware, software, materials, and business models alike. We hope you find it useful.

BradClevelandPresident & CeO bradc@protomold.com

Either way, Innovation is the Answer

asia:Challenge or Opportunity?

> PRodUCTIon

For centuries, alchemists searched for practical ways to turn inexpensive

“base” metals into precious gold. None have succeeded, but there is a way to turn expensive machined (or stamped) metal into affordable molded plastic and save money in the process. 3D CAD modeling, specialized resins, and sophisticated mold-making technologies allow production of increasingly complex plastic parts with a variety of performance characteristics. These parts have several advantages over machined metal:

Parts can be lighter

Plastic offers a wider range of material properties

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Multiple machined parts can often be molded as one plastic part

Production cost of injection molding drops steeply with quantity

Conversion from metal to plastic, however, is not simply a matter of replicating the original design in another material. It makes sense to design specifically for injection molding rather than limit yourself to a design developed for metal and its fabrication processes. Consider the part in context and the possibility of combining several parts into one. Conversely, you may be able to avoid injection molding’s limitations by breaking one part into two or more and then connecting them by snap fitting, welding or joining with connectors. Of course,

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some limitations may be avoided by simply changing the design to better accommodate the molding process.

In designing for injection molding, consider the stresses to which the part will be subjected. Ability to handle compression, withstand a blow, resist bending, and snap back after being bent differ among resins and between metal and plastic. Where appropriate, architectural features—ribs, gussets, and the like—can be added to provide additional support. For detailed information on plastic part design, see Protomold’s web site, our free monthly design tips, and the books in our Protomold store.

Modern Alchemy: TurningMetalintoPlastic

> CoveRSToRy

Prototyping is probably as old as the human capacity to have an idea and the desire to see it take physical form. The ancients did it; Renaissance artists and craftsmen did it; and, of course, we do it today. Over the years, it’s been done in materials from wood and clay to metal and plastic, but whatever the material, the purpose remains the same: to fine-tune and finalize a design prior to production.

Technology has impacted prototyping in much the same way that it has affected production. Prototypes can be created faster and with greater realism as design and manufacturing techniques improve. Realism has been a particular challenge, since prototyping typically

uses different methods than production. A mass produced part, repetitively cast or stamped, has always had a degree of inherent consistency; a prototype manufactured by some more individual (and, until recently, more manual) process, has not. The biggest recent breakthrough has been three-dimensional computer-aided design. Not only does 3D CAD accelerate the design process; it also enables the automation of the subsequent prototyping and production processes.

HigH-tecH eqUiPMentToday’s prototyping methodologies can be direct or indirect, involve specialized equipment, and use either additive or subtractive manufacturing

techniques. Direct methods create a physical part from 3D CAD in one step and include rapid prototyping (additive) and conventional CNC machining (subtractive). Indirect methods involve an intermediate step, typically to form a tool or pattern from which a tool is made. They include cast urethane molding based on a stereolithography (sLA) pattern (additive) or rapid injection molding (subtractive).

Additive methods entail the building up of material, typically in layers, to form a finished prototype or intermediate tool or pattern. examples of additive methods include stereolithography, selective laser sintering,

fused deposition modeling and direct metal deposition. subtractive methods involve the removal of material to create the object. These include cutting, turning, or electro-discharge methods.

DiRect vs. inDiRect, ADDitive vs. sUbtRActiveA direct additive (i.e. rapid prototyping) method is typically the fastest and cheapest way to make a prototype, but it will generally be less faithful to the original design intent. This is true for two reasons. The first is reliance on materials that rarely match those that will be used in the finished product. As a result, it is materially unrealistic. The second is the nature of the prototyping process itself. For example, additive processes that create the three-dimensional object in layers typically cannot smooth the edges where the layers meet. As a result, they leave “stair steps” in non-horizontal surfaces that are neither part of the original design nor intended to appear in the final product. Indirect additive methods like sLA-pattern-based room temperature vulcanization (RTV) molding have the same limitation because of their dependence upon RP technologies.

As an indirect subtractive method, rapid injection molding has the opposite characteristics. Compared to rapid prototyping, the lead time and cost associated with mold manufacturing is a disadvantage. But the ability to produce the true desired shape in almost any thermoplastic resin are distinct advantages. And, unlike direct approaches like CNC machining, it allows production of additional prototypes at far lower cost.

PrototypingandTechnology

HigH-tecH softwAReRapid injection molding occupies a unique niche among prototyping technologies because it closely resembles a production method. And, unlike other rapid prototyping technologies, the technological emphasis in rapid injection molding is not on specialized equipment, but on the software that controls it.

Protomold software takes the well–known practice of computer numerical control and extends it backward into the design phase. Instead of simply executing mold machining commands, Protomold’s software controls the

entire process including design evaluation, quotation, mold design, toolpath generation, machining, mold assembly, and injection molding. The result is better process flow, a parts-making speed far exceeding that of rapid prototyping, and costs that are a fraction of those of traditional injection molding. The software is highly advanced and requires a great deal of processing power. But the result of investing in an exceptional software development team and a high-end computing environment has been a prototyping solution like no other.

PoweringProtoQuote™

It takes plenty of computing power to run Protomold’s many software processes, from interactive quoting to mold-making and everything in between. That’s what “The Crunchers,” an array of clustered Intel 3.4 GHz processors, are for. “As we kept adding capability to our software, it got to the point where even the fastest conventional PC platforms weren’t fast enough,” says Chief Technical Officer Larry Lukis. “A dedicated, high-performance compute cluster turned out to be the best way to speed up the process.”

Where does all that muscle go? For starters, it powers detailed moldability analysis of customer–submitted designs, along with expanded web services. “Automation helps us control costs,” says Lukis, “but it also helps our customers get better parts. Our ProtoQuote software does a detailed analysis of every 3D CAD design we get, looking for anything that could affect either production or the finished product. I can’t talk about all the new developments we’re working on, but I expect our reliance on super-computer-level processing power to increase substantially in the future.”

ADDitive sUbtRActive

DiRectstereolithography (sLA)

Fused deposition modeling

3D printing

inDiRectsLA-based cast urethane molding

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DiRectComputer numberically controlled (CNC) machining

inDiRectRapid injection molding

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PrototypingandTechnology

© APPrOTO © THe PrOTOmOLD COmPAny, InC.

> PRoToMoldgRowTh

Industrial revolution has returned to Telford, england. 220 years after the first structural use of cast iron was pioneered in the construction of Iron Bridge (cover photo), rapid injection moulding has successfully come to europe and is already taking the marketplace by storm. Feedback from customers of The Protomold Company, Ltd. indicates that design engineers across europe have had their fill of the long lead times that the injection moulding industry has come to expect.

A spokesperson for our first customer, Hewlett Packard, said: “I was very impressed with Protomold’s rapid turnaround on quotations, how helpful their engineers were, and how short their lead times were. Going from two or three days to get a quote and then a four–week lead time, to a quote within the hour and a five–day lead time is impressive to say the least. The quality of the end product was excellent and fulfilled all our expectations.”

sPot tHe DiffeRence

Real Parts Real PartsReal Fast Real FastReal savings Real savingsAluminum molds Aluminium moulds

Paul Roe, senior Technician

A specialist in injection moulding and mould tool manufacture, Paul is an expert in his field. He has experience supplying many international industries.

Damian Hennessey, Commercial Manager

With a design and commercial background from the automotive industry, Damian has experience in all aspects of the product development process from design evolution to high profile commercial negotiations.

Lee Ball, senior Technician

Time served as a tool maker and injection moulding technician for a multi-national automotive supplier has given Lee a skill set second to none.

Rachel Fisher, Accounts Assistant

A recent graduate from Manchester university, Rachel brings youth and enthusiasm and a head for numbers.

John Tumelty, General Manager

Former managing director of a global engine cooling system supplier to the automotive industry, John’s varied background covers all areas of manufacture from tool maintenance to business growth.

nothinglostintranslationIs Protomold re-writing history?

Meet tHe teAM

www.protomold.co.uk+44 870 723 0000

The Protomold uK offices Inside the facility

The Protomold uK team

> BooKRevIew

Will the world ever have too many books on design for injection molding? Probably not, and not simply because injection molding is a changing field. In fact, Herbert Rees’s book, published in 1996, is not the most current in the field, but it is clearly and logically written and, for it’s size, quite comprehensive. At a mere 116 pages it is obviously not intended as an exhaustive work or a definitive reference. But with over 40 years in the field, the writer knows injection molding inside and out, and his approach is unmistakably oriented toward practical, real-life application.

Like a filmmaker, he begins with a “wide-angle shot” to orient his reader to the general landscape, touching on material selection and the broad range of fabrication processes available to part designers. He then moves in to focus on injection molding. His approach highlights just the sort of challenges engineers might actually face in designing or redesigning a part for molding.

His lessons are broken up into “bite-size” pieces, and he seems to know just where to go into detail or add an illustration to clarify a point. And while not given to digressions, he is willing to take a side trip into the subject of mold making to help readers understand the reasoning behind certain preferred approaches to parts design. On the whole, however, he presents a logical, understandable, and focused look at the key design considerations—wall thickness, rib design, radiusing of corners, and undercutting—that yield functional, highly moldable parts.

Lest we at Protomold be accused of directing readers toward material that will only educate them to use our rapid injection molding process, I’d like to point out that he addresses a number of techniques designed specifically for traditional, as opposed to rapid, injection molding. These include the use of stripper plates, unscrewing internal threads, two-stage eject, and collapsing cores to name a few. However, most of the techniques he addresses apply to injection molding across the board.

The biggest weakness in Rees’s work lies, not in the areas of molding but in his discussions of design software. His section on CAD was written when 2D CAD was still in the process of eclipsing manual drafting as a design tool and solid modeling was an emerging technology. Considering the clarity and economy of the rest of his work, however, such shortcomings can be overlooked as long as the reader is aware of them.

This book is available for purchase at the Protomold store.

7.2ounces*ofInformationtitle: understanding Product Design for Injection Molding

author: Herbert Rees

publisher: Hanser Gardner Publications, 1996

isBn: 1569902100

*Shippingweight!

news fRoM ALL oveRProtomold’s uK facility opened right on schedule on October 1 with five full-time employees and is already delivering five-day quick turns and parts from multi-cam (side action) molds (or moulds, as they say over there).

Closer to home—much closer—our North American expansion facility is coming along on schedule and will open Q2 ’06. Located less than a block from our headquarters facility, the new location increases our production capacity by over 50 percent, which will come in handy now that we are exporting to Canada!

Aw, sHUcKs!On October 1, the Inc. 500 list identified Protomold as the 96th–fastest–growing private company in the u.s.

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On October 21, The Minneapolis/st. Paul Business Journal 2005 Growth 50 list placed Protomold fourth among private Twin Cities companies.

On October 27, upsize Magazine named Protomold Minnesota’s Business Builder of the Year.

we’LL be seeing yoU...January 23–25, 2006 at the solidWorks World Conference 2006 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, booth #103

March 20–23, 2006, National Manufacturing Week at the Donald stevens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL, booth #16,025 in the National Design engineering section

And our thanks to all those who visited us at the MD&M show in Minneapolis.

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we get sLAMMeDHere’s a recent entry to the Protomold Poetry slam.

Higgledy piggledy, isn’t recycling amazing, astounding, a notable feat?

start out with pop bottles, end with fleece pullovers.

some call it marvelous We call it PeTe.*

* Polyethylene terephthalate

Now it’s your turn. send submissions to marketing@protomold.com.

Don’t foRgetThe Protomold Refer-a-friend program at www.protomold.com

Visit the Protomold store at www.co-store.com/protomold.

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what’snew

The Protomold Company, Inc. 1757 Halgren Road Maple Plain, MN 55359

P: (763) 479-3680 F: (763) 479-2679

© 2005 by The Protomold Company, Inc.

noBody’s fasteR in the shoRt RunTM

Bringing new products to market can be a very frustrating experience, so it’s a good idea to find humor wherever you can. Please email your suggestions for future “everything by Design” cartoons to marketing@protomold.com.

eveRyThIngBydeSIgn

www.pRotoMold.coM/paRts