16 million Euro research project
Delcam is pleased to announce that it has been chosen to lead a 16 million Euro European Community research project into Rapid Manufacturing called Custom-Fit. The project represents a major investment by Europe in the future of manufacturing technology. It brings together over 30 partners from across Europe to research and develop new manufacturing processes whereby products could be built up from different materials using new machines capable of varying the grade and type of the material within a single component. For example, a component might be composed of part plastic and part metal with a graded mixture of material in between.
The consortium involved in Custom-Fit held its kick off
meeting at Delcam’s Birmingham, UK, headquarters on 21 st September.
The ambitious scope of the proposed project is to create a fully integrated system for the production and supply of personalised custom products or components using Rapid Manufacturing techniques. It is envisaged that Rapid Manufacturing will create an industry that is an order of magnitude larger than that of the existing Rapid Prototyping business and so make an important contribution to the future of high-added value manufacturing in the European Union.
The four and a half year project is focusing upon products that fit the human body, such as surgical bone implants, helmets, prostheses and sports grips. It will encompass all areas from geometry capture through to product design, performance simulation, and part production, as well as new distribution methods that might be needed for completely individualised products.
For manufacturers, costs for establishing new product lines and for producing a much wider range of design variants will be dramatically reduced, as no tooling will be required. For customers, complex products that can be configured to personal requirements will be able to be made cost effectively, thus giving the potential for much greater product satisfaction at an affordable price. The customised products manufactured by these new processes will improve the quality of life of European customers and will open a step-change in manufacturing for the new century.
Links:
Contacts:
Chris Lewis Jones....................................... +44 121 766 5544 (clj@delcam.com)
Rafael Valero................................................. +34 965 55 44 75 (customfit@aiju.info)
For further information please contact: