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cover story Molders go 'rapid' for Prototyping and Manufacturing By Lilli Manolis Sherman, Senior Editor three forward-thinking custom molders have taken steps to streamline their manufacturing, expand new product development, and add to their customer base—and all in a more cost-effective manner than ever before. What's their secret? These three have invested in a category of technology commonly called "rapid prototyping" (RP) and also coming to be known as "additive manufacturing" (AM) because it can be used for short-run manufacturing of production parts. By going in-house with this technology, these molders exemplify what may become a new way of doing business for many others in the future. Two of the three are injection molders that also operate their own RP/AM operations: Minneapolis-based Spectrum Plastics Group and Thogus Products, Avon Lake, Ohio. In Spectrum's case, capability for RP/AM and for building injection molds with this technology ("rapid tooling") were enhanced through its acquisitions in 2008 of Dynacept in Brewster, N.Y., which specializes in RP, quick-turn molding or manufacturing (QTM), and the new Dynaclass Quick-Turn tooling system; as well as Protogenic of Westmister, Colo., a prototyping service bureau. Last year, the Dynacept QTM operation was moved to Spectrum's Ansonia, Conn., facility, a full-service injection molder and tool builder, while the rapid prototyping operation was combined with that of Protogenic in Colorado. Meanwhile, Thogus saw a heightened demand for RP/AM after it acquired its frst Stratasys FDM (fused-deposition modeling) system a few years ago. In 2011, company president Matt Hlavin launched a separate RP/AM company, rp+m, housed within the Thogus facility. Among the key markets served by both these companies is healthcare and medical devices. Tim Erwin, senior technical advisor at Spectrum's Ansonia facility, pegs this market sector at about 30% of the company's business, while aerospace/ defense is about 50%, followed by a smaller business segment described as "precision industry," which ranges from automotive to lighting. Thogus also serves consumer products, electronics, industrial, food and beverage, lawn and garden, and plumbing markets. But, the medical market is signifcant enough to be housed in a newly launched subsidiary, Jalex Medical. Hlavin expects this business to grow to over 60% in the next fve years, and he sees AM as having signifcant potential in medical device development. The third molder, Currier Plastics of Auburn, N.Y., is a custom injection molder and blow molder, primarily of packaging, and a new kid on the block in terms of in-house RP. The company acquired signifcant experience with the technology during its initial foray into proprietary product development, going through 10 digitally printed prototypes to arrive at the fnal design of its PerfectSit lumbar-support seating device (see Jan. '12 feature article). That frst experience with RP—through an outside service bureau—was enough to sell Currier on buying its own unit. Since its acquisition last year of an Objet 30 3D digital printer (sold by Stratasys LLC, Minneapolis, following its recent merger with Israel's Objet Ltd.), Currier has already added Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 create Design in solidWorks. save file as stl file. lay out parts in objet studio. Print out parts on 3D printer. 30 February 2013 Plastics technology