The ReMotion Knee, a low cost prosthetic knee joint, is the latest winner of the Cool Idea! Award from Proto Labs, the world’s fastest manufacturer of CNC machined and injection moulded parts. Proto Labs launched the Cool Idea! Award in 2011 to give product designers the opportunity to bring their innovations to life by presenting up to $250,000 worth of prototyping and short-run production services to award recipients. D-Rev, designer and manufacturer of the ReMotion knee, is 2013’s first (…)
The Eurotec Newsletter
Trade show
Customer service: valuable info to fetch
Yesterday in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Swiss Marketing offered many occasions to think about the future of after-sales service or customer service. Another event not to be missed. The program covered a wide range of topics, such as the mismatch between the brand image and the service level, the integration of new technologies in the after-sales policies as a lever for customer loyalty, after-sales relations, or the analysis of consumer reactions on forums dedicated to aficionados. Main aspect (…)
Trade show
Live quality comparison of test parts for machine tools
For the 20th anniversary of EuroMold from 3 to 6 December 2013 at the exhibition center in Frankfurt/Main – the organizer DEMAT GmbH expects more than 1,100 exhibitors and over 55,000 trade visitors and sets-up some highlights. EuroMold is one of the world’s leading trade fairs for Moldmaking and Tooling, Design and Application Development. As the only annual trade fair for machine tools in Germany, it has become an established must-attend event for manufacturers and users in the industry. (…)
Services
Satisfaction surveys : the seven deadly sins
As part of its strategic development, the specialised trade show Siams wished to learn more about the expectations of its exhibitors. To rely on relevant and usable information, the organizers have set-up a satisfaction survey. We met with Mr. Michel Voisard, director of Mediactif in Vevey, the institute of customers’ relation, who conducted this study. Sometimes satisfaction surveys lead to interpretation errors resulting in bad decisions and erroneous improvement measures. Mr. Voisard (…)
Tooling
Sliding-head machines for machining medical components
Medical devices have and are undergoing rapid change, generating pressure on the manufacture of components. Even some of the more basic parts such as screws have evolved as regards type, design, quality demands and delivery demands. In response, machinery, methods and tooling are developing to meet demands from a growing industry. The sliding-head machine provides an advantageous basis for very efficient machining – where parts are small but the differences in degree of utilization is (…)
Components
Permanently leak-proof
In the creation of a high vacuum, oil-free membrane pumps provide the necessary fore-vacuum and turbo pumps perform the final compression. High-quality metal connecting components provide for reliable and permanently leak-proof connections in this process. For more than half a century, Vacuubrand GmbH + CO KG, located in the North Baden city of Wertheim, has specialised in technology for the generation of vacuums. The product spectrum includes, for example, rotary vane pumps, oil-free (…)
CAD
Delcam adds Vortex high-speed roughing strategy to FeatureCAM
Delcam has added its new Vortex high-efficiency area clearance strategy to the latest release of its FeatureCAM feature-based CAM system. Vortex was introduced initially as the key enhancement for the 2014 version of Delcam’s PowerMILL software for high-speed and five-axis machining. Vortex, for which Delcam has a patent pending, has been developed specifically to gain the maximum benefit from solid carbide tooling, in particular those designs that can give deeper cuts by using the full (…)
Tooling
To work where it’s nearly impossible
In all areas, users of machines-tools, whether turning or milling, seek solutions to machine more effectively, to place tools in reduced spaces, or also to increase the number of tools available in fixed kinematics. The answers to all of these needs are precisely the forces of Pibomulti/Emissa (Switzerland). Meeting with Mr. Pierre Boschi, director and owner of the company, for whom nothing (or almost) is impossible. On the occasion of Midest Paris, on the ’special machines’ village, the (…)
Machines
Cryogenic cooling reduces wear and tear
The boom in giant aircraft, particularly, is driving a radical transformation in the materials of choice: suddenly, titanium, nickel-based alloys, ultra-high-strength steels and carbon-fibre composites have to be machined on a large scale and at high levels of productivity. Metav 2014 will showcase prospects for new cooling strategies Conventional cooling lubricant concepts often come up against their physical limits here. The potential of cryogenic cooling compared to conventional (…)
Machines
When the machining process makes the difference
For many specialists working with machining companies in France and Europe, the name of Huron is a little part of the past. It is the brand of the machine on which they learned. It is always there and one may think about it with nostalgia, but seldom with a clear vision of what it is today: a dynamic manufacturer who offers extraordinary machines and machining processes. Meeting near Strasbourg with Ms. Labeauvie, Marketing Manager and MM. Echevard, CEO and Lutz, commercial Director. (…)