RAPID TOOLING & PROTOTYPING   

PROPOSAL FOR IN-HOUSE PROTOTYPING SYSTEM

RAPID TOOLING REPORT

PROPOSAL FOR IN-HOUSE PROTOTYPING SYSTEM

PROPOSAL FOR INTEGRATED IN-HOUSE PROTOTYPE TOOLING SOLUTIONS

DATE:  2/18/97
SUBMITTED BY:  Phil Orenstein
TITLE:  A Proposal for an In-house Prototyping System

PROPOSAL:

Based upon my experience in the areas of new product design, CNC programming, model making and pre-tool prototyping, I would like to propose the implementation of a true prototyping program that would substantially increase business and creative resources for P.O.P. Displays. I was working for several years at a company called Precision Prototypes Inc., where we would turn thousands of concept sketches, CAD files and germinating ideas for new products into appearance models and functional prototypes (engineering models). It was a very successful operation where we focused strictly on dimensionally accurate prototypes. We had a unique system of generating CNC machined parts from 3D CAD models of new product ideas for a limited production run of finished quality molded parts from flexible silicone rubber molds in about 1-2 weeks, at 5% of the cost of production tooling !! We received the commendation and gratitude of such companies as: Dupont, Unisys, Fisher-Price, Pitney Bowes and AT&T just to name a few.
In this age of increasing competition and dwindling time to market, companies need a way to get their ideas out there to examine and to test market before committing to the high costs of production tooling. CAD/CAM Prototyping and plastic resin casting from inexpensive silicone rubber molds offers a superior and very cost effective solution. How can this benefit P.O.P. Displays? I have outlined below a number of ways that implementing a simple low-cost in-house prototyping system could increase business, engineering and creative resources, and put P.O.P. years ahead of the competition.
I am also writing this proposal to describe the direction that I would personally like my career to take in the near future. I feel that this is the best way that I could put my knowledge and expertise to work for the benefit of the company.


ADVANTAGES:

1. NEW SOURCES OF BUSINESS. 
As I mentioned earlier, many companies need a way to inexpensively explore and test market their new product ideas before committing to production injection molds. Many small model shops and industrial designers are thriving on this prototyping business and then farm out the high volume production parts to custom injection molders. Some injection molders maintain a prototyping department with CAD/CAM facilities. If POP had such facilities in-house, we would grab a lot of this prototyping business and thereby run the production parts on our own machines during down time. It's a simple procedure to acquire this business that would not burden our sales staff. At Precision Prototypes, we simply obtained database listings of attendees and exhibitors to the consumer electronic, medical instrumentation and other trade shows and then would cold call those that were involved with the design or production of plastic molded parts. Also advertisements in the back of trade journals such as I.D. magazine, Plastics Design Forum, Design News et al. would be a good step to inform the community about our resources. I know of a local industrial design firm that recently jobbed out $50,000 worth of rapid prototype parts for molded plastic housing designs for new consumer products. It's evident that there is a big market out there that utilizes this new technology.

2. NEW LOW COST RESOURCE FOR PRODUCTION TOOLING.
We now have only two CNC milling machines to produce production mold inserts. We could easily use a few more but the cost is high. A much quicker low cost approach would be to utilize a process of producing production tooling directly from prototype models. First we would machine core and cavity prototype mold inserts in a high-density machineable plastic foam or hardwood using a relatively inexpensive Techno-Isel CNC 3-axis router or desktop CNC machine tool. To do this we would create an AutoCAD solid model (scaled up .014/in. for shrinkage) of the part and generate toolpaths from our CAD/CAM software. The next step is to prep and seal it and send it out to a foundry for sand casting in aluminum. We could perform the minor finishing operations necessary in our tooling department and then insert the finished core and cavity into the mold base. The same process could be successfully utilized for vacuum form production tooling. We now out-source a lot of our vacuum form tooling. This same expeditious low cost process can be utilized. A prototype vacuum form pattern can be produced in machinable plastic and then after it is successfully tested, a permanent tool can be cast from it in aluminum. We utilized these same processes very successfully at Precision Prototypes and other companies I've worked for and I have the expertise and know-how to execute them. These processes are especially useful for complex parts with organic surfaces such as the Zee Medical Job. In fact it is the only reasonable way to produce certain parts which would otherwise take forever with traditional machining. Time would not be an issue even though we're dealing with complex parts. It would just be a matter of representing an accurate 3D solid model of the part and then after generating the CNC toolpaths, it can be quickly machined. The Stratasys rapid prototyping machine could also be very successfully utilized to generate smaller prototype patterns for cast aluminum tooling.

3. LOW VOLUME PRODUCTION RUNS OF HIGH QUALITY MOLDED PARTS. 
What do we do if we need a low volume run, say 25 or 100 pieces, of a complex part such as a raised company logo in a molded clear plastic, or a display component made out of a flexible rubbery plastic? Projects such as these would be impossible to fabricate by hand and too costly to build a metal mold. The best solution, besides out-sourcing, would be to utilize this in-house prototyping process that I've been discussing. We can very easily produce low cost flexible silicone rubber molds (in 2 days including overnight curing time) from a CNC or Stratasys generated model or customers sample and then cast a low volume (25-50 pcs/mold) run with liquid plastic resin. We have a choice of innumerable resin systems from crystal clear epoxy to rubberized polyurethane. These silicone rubbers molds capture every detail so you get perfect parts without sink marks or flow lines. I have many years of experience with this process. I ran a long term jobs at Precision Prototypes for Dupont when their production plant burned down and many of their molds were destroyed. They needed continuous quantity delivery of the plastic molded components for their medical instrumentation division. I was able to fill the gap for them until their plant was up and running.

4. TO STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION IN THE DISPLAY INDUSTRY.
Most Point of Purchase display companies are low-tech. Even the high-tech ones may not have the in-house expertise to implement a complete prototyping process to service their needs. Only your highest class mold makers have an on premises hi-tech prototyping department. Otherwise you'll only find these services in specialized model shops which charge $75/hr. and are too booked up to produce your prototypes and tooling components when you need them, well, yesterday. P.O.P. Displays, being a technology driven operation would be able to keep abreast of the continuing advances in the field with the latest 'art to part' technologies and stay far ahead of the competition in the Display trade. We don't need an outside engineering consultant who charges $500/hr to set up such a system. We don't need to spend a lot of money on equipment and software. We have most of it right here and we have all the expertise we need. I am experienced in the operation and programming of CNC's, VMC's and Techno CNC routers. We have the NC Polaris CAD/CAM software that we need or we could upgrade to a better system such as Mastercam. I have outlined below some of the costs involved in this project and it doesn't amount to that much when compared with the benefits it will reap. It can also be implemented gradually and amortized into jobs as they arise.

5. TO EXPAND THE CREATIVE RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR THE DESIGN AND ENGINEERING DEPTS.
We could design and manufacture more creative and appealing products if we had in-house facilities available for transforming creative organic designs into realities, or to produce engineering models too big or bulky for the Stratasys. We could quickly generate CNC machined appearance models of new and experimental designs. Then we have something that we ourselves can touch and feel and we can show the customer something physical. The engineering department could quickly prove out molded parts that would be too time consuming and tie up the Stratasys or they may be too large for its 9x9 bed. We now have the Mechanical Desktop, the extremely versatile advanced 3D solid modeling software package from Autodesk. But we are not utilizing its phenomenal power to our advantage. From my experience, I know that if we possessed these tools and fully utilized the ones we do have, our work efficiency, imagination and creativity would soar! This means that profits for P.O.P. would soar!


COST TO P.O.P. DISPLAYS:

Actually the entire system could be implemented for less than $1000. If we were to utilize the production CNC routers we now have in the wood shop and Polaris CAD/CAM software, the minimal equipment we would have to purchase, tanks, scales, chemicals and so forth, would amount to maybe $1000 or less. However if this proposal is seriously implemented and a dedicated CNC system is to be used, my suggestion would be to purchase relatively low cost Techno-Isel 3-axis CNC routing system or desktop VMC mills. From my experience, the Techno is the best system on the market in that price range. Outlined below are estimated costs (some prices may not be too accurate being from memory or an educated guess). This should serve the purpose of giving us a rough idea of the costs involved. As I mentioned above some equipment could be purchased gradually and amortized into the jobs. Also leasing is available for costly equipment.

CONCLUSION:

In the past year since I've joined P.O.P. Displays, I've seen a company committed to a progressive and innovative spirit. I have heard some of the developmental plans for the future which include training programs and investment in state-of-the-art technology. This is all very exciting and I believe that such an invaluable resource as the prototyping system which I've discussed herein would prove to be a great opportunity for P.O.P. Displays to make a major advance.