40% growth in over-moulding
Vista has increased over-moulding work by 40%
Rapid prototyping, rapid tooling and injection molding bureau Vista Technologies, based in Minnesota, U.S., has installed over-moulding capabilities in the form of an Objet Connex500 3D printer.
The new equipment has helped the growth of repeat business and conversion of prototyping jobs into tooling jobs. Overall, over-moulding tooling business has increased by 40 percent.
Customers use Vista Technologies (also known as VistaTek) prototypes in the proof-of-concept stage of development as well as to check fit, form and function for manufacturability and tolerance. Prototypes are also often used by marketing departments for focus groups and to develop packaging.
According to Dan Mishek, sales manager for VistaTek: “Customers had expressed an interest in having us to do this type of work for them, but for a long time the printing technology simply didn’t exist. The only alternative was to print two separate parts using two different materials and then literally glue or tape them together. Or, we would print the part with one hard material, and say, ‘OK, now imagine that top part is soft.’ With the Objet Connex500, we don’t have to rely on imagination to convey how an overmolded part will actually look, feel and operate. We can print out an accurate prototype and just hand it to the customer.
“In the past,” says Mishek, “customers may have restricted their designs in some regard because there was no way to get a functional model for what they really wanted to try; or a model would be cost prohibitive. Hence, straying from traditional designs created risk. Today, customers tell us, ‘Now that I know I can prototype these types of features, I may design the next part differently.’ They can design in a soft-touch area or a more complex assembly, and we can prototype it quickly and relatively inexpensively.
That gives them the freedom to try new designs and new approaches, and makes it more likely that they’ll come back to us.”
VistaTek has more than 1,600 customers across the U.S., including 3M, SPX Corporation and Toro.
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