This Midest show in Paris made me discover a company that organized itself to be the “Amazon” of subcontracting: proto labs. I.e. everything has been set up to allow customers to order quickly and efficiently on-line and everything has also been organized to make production follow at high pace. Offered services are CNC prototype machining (from 1 to 10 parts) and prototype injection molding (10 to 10’000 parts). Proto labs factory in the UK: A huge production capacity! One production (…)

Yesterday at the 40th anniversary celebration of Midest, a round table and debate took place regarding “subcontracting at the dawn of 2020”. The attendees coming from industry and political world were amazingly well on the same wavelength, subcontracting in France is at the start of bright days. In France, 97% of companies are less than50 people big. The strength of these SME’s can be found in their passion and innovation (amongst other things). According to the debate, there are a few (…)

ESPRIT is a high-performance, full-spectrum, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system for a full range of machine tool applications. Recently the company started to organize very successful seminars on the web… here is a new one that will take place tomorrow! How long does it take you to program a part? 2 hours? 4 hours? Do some programs take even longer than that? What if you could create reliable CNC programs in under 15 minutes? Do not miss the webinar that will demonstrate different (…)

Midest, one of the world’s most important industrial subcontracting show just started in Paris. This special edition for the 40th anniversary of the show starts well as floor space as well as number of exhibitors show increases. 1710 exhibitors from 37 countries are awaiting your visit to show you their skills in subcontracting…. In Paris till Friday. Instead of speaking about the show, let’s share a few figures about subcontracting first. In 2009, total subcontracting turnover of the 15 (…)

Delcam recently held the inaugural meeting in Alicante, Spain, of the eight million Euro COMET project funded by the European Commission. As the Co-ordinating Partner, Delcam is combining its experience and expertise in manufacturing with thirteen other technical partners from eight countries across Europe to develop plug-and-produce COmponents and METhods for adaptive control of industrial robots for high-end machining that will enable cost effective, flexible and reliable manufacturing (…)

As of the 2011 edition (24th - 27th May), the organizers of the international EPMT fair (Professional Environment for MicroTechnologies), held annually at Beaulieu Lausanne, will be joining forces with the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), along with BioAlps, Micronarc, A3P Suisse and the Medical Cluster and other associations, to highlight one of the most dynamic, high-powered economic sectors in Switzerland: Medtech. Switzerland, internationally synonymous with (…)

Ultra-High Performance Toolpath (UHPT) Technology Can Transform Manufacturing. Since the dawn of machining, the manufacturing industry has looked for ways to squeeze greater efficiencies out of existing equipment, materials and labor. Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and computer numerical controlled (CNC) machining were huge steps in the right direction several decades ago. A standard toolpath (left) makes parallel cuts through material, requiring numerous stops and starts. UHPT (…)

The well-known BX4 family of brushless DC servo motors welcomes an innovative new member. With a 22 mm module, the 2232/2250…BX4 CSD/CCD is the world’s smallest brushless motor with integrated motion controller in uniform-diameter construction. It combines all the advantages of BX4 technology in a tiny package: long service life, high non-cogging torque and freedom from adhesives. This makes them ideal for use in demanding application areas such as robotics, automation, medical technology, (…)

Kuka Robot Group is presenting a new product generation. Kuka is the one robot supplier that has dedicated itself to simplifying every dimension of robotics. The new product generation makes automation easy: easy to plan, easy to integrate, easy to operate, easy to maintain and easy to adapt to specific customer requirements. Furthermore, the German-based technological leader is demonstrating with the new products how robotics can be made safer and more energy efficient. Simply compact: (…)

Avicenne Developpement presents its strategic report on the European orthopedic market 2009-2012.This issue includes hip, knee and shoulder implants and brings readers all the relevant information about this growing market. With more than 640 slides and 1 100 tables and graphs, this comprehensive survey details the volume, value, average price by product, by country and by competitor. Main countries analyzed are Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe and Whole Europe, 3 years (…)