The final parts were supplied in flat-pack form and tagged into a sheet for the customer to crop-out and hand form. The forming was facilitated by the use of 65% depth etched bend lines. There were two different parts of similar design, a necklace 'box' and an earring 'box', both of which were produced from 0.50mm thick aluminium (aluminium specification = 1050A-H14). Both parts were anodised and dyed in three different colours - red, blue and black.

A further facet of PCM is that it enabled the jeweller's name to be etched into the side of each piece as part of a single process. The project is an example of the company's ability to cost-effectively produce custom parts using a combination of in-house technologies - PCM and fine metal finishing from its dedicated metal finishing division.The company offers a rapid turnaround on high-specification prototypes of flat metal components with very low tooling costs, based on a standard metal sheet 'blank' size of 300mm x 400mm.

Base materials include stainless steel, copper, brass, aluminium, nickel silver, with many other materials available. Designers and engineers are offered an extremely flexible opportunity, being able to specify as many parts as can be fitted into the prototype blank sheet's surface area. Furthermore, as with the Tess Blenkinsop parts, it is possible to 'part-etch' areas of the design, such as fold lines, allowing the end user to easily fabricate custom 3D parts.

In addition to prototyping new parts and lower-volume runs, the service targets those seeking urgent access to high-quality precision-engineered parts for repair or retrofit. Once the design is finalised, down-the-line production speeds and costs are reduced because the tooling is already in place. Future modifications can be readily incorporated if necessary using the company's powerful CAD system, ensuring any 'knock-on' tooling costs are also minimised.

Metal-finishing / plating options include Tin (3µm to 8µm), electroless nickel (3µm to 8µm), anodising (I ,II and III), and Alocrom 1200 as well as Tecan's proprietary range of TECfin finishes.