At the International K Trade Fair for the plastics and rubber industry (Oct. 27 – Nov. 3, 2010, Düsseldorf), EOS will showcase its e-Manufacturing solutions at a joint booth with LBC and Materialise (Hall 2, Booth 2E23). EOS will demonstrate two laser-sintering systems at the booth—the EOSINT M 270 for metals and the FORMIGA P 100 for plastics.

Peter Klink, Executive Vice President Sales at EOS, says: “We will showcase trendsetting approaches for serial tooling, such as conformal-cooling channels. Moreover, we will present a product range that reflects the strengths of our technology for all batch sizes, showing how the design determines the production process (Design Driven Manufacturing); and how the ability to design and manufacture highly individual products promotes the development of new business areas.”

EOS’ cooling innovations can improve injection-molding processes. During production, component-specific conformal-cooling channels are directly integrated into a tooling insert. These channels provide efficient cooling, reducing the cycle time and creating several advantages, among them better quality parts in shorter production times. Conformal cooling provides lower per-unit costs and lower energy consumption per product unit.

More market segments want the ability to create custom products. This is especially true for the medical industry. EOS e-Manufacturing partner Materialise produces patient-specific drill guides for surgical procedures—for example, knee implants—with EOS layer-manufacturing technology. To ensure crucial precision and quality for surgical procedures, the following are required: a high repetitive accuracy of the manufacturing process, integrated software for designing drill guides, and a proficient handling of customer-specific data and parts.

John Pauwels, Director of Operations at Materialise Software, comments: “Our goal is to provide an economically acceptable method for the production of custom surgical guides. For that reason, intensive pre-surgical planning is necessary, and a number of factors are considered and seamlessly combined, among them patient-specific anatomy, highly automated data handling and individual logistics. Most importantly, a procedure such as laser-sintering ensures the efficient production of customized components.”

EOS works with its customers to analyze the process chains of their products, including energy consumption. This involves both production and utilization phases (life-cycle analysis). Energy savings can be created in the course of laser sintering as well as later in the life cycle. Applications such as conformal-cooling channels have shown a cycle time reduction of up to 60%, which promotes lower energy consumption.

EOS monitors, supports and documents process assurance, part quality and traceability with its Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). EOS then takes quality to the next level with its Part Property Management (PPM) concept. Based on the Part Property Profiles (PPP), EOS ensures standardization and comparability of building processes and results that provide designers and users with a reliable tool.

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