Check out the information below if you are interested in rapid, low cost
PRODUCTION tool technology.
Rapid Manufacturing Center: A new consortium called the Rapid Manufacturing
Center (RMC) has been formed at the University of Rhode Island by Dr. Brent
Stucker. Brent Stucker is well known in the rp community for developing a
superior material system for building EDM electrodes using selective laser
sintering while at Texas A&M. Now on the faculty at the University of Rhode
Island, Brent has formed the RMC consortium with a nucleus of about 7
companies interested in applying technology to build rapid production tools
developed by the RMC to enhance their competitiveness. The first meeting of
the consortium will be held on Friday, February 27, 1998 at the University
of Rhode Island in Providence. This is an open meeting for members as well
as prospective members. Inquiries by industry representatives are welcome to
Brent Stucker or Doug VanPutte per the contact information listed below.
The RMC Mission: The mission of the University of Rhode Island Rapid
Manufacturing Center is to improve upon and create new links between product
design and product manufacture by developing advanced materials, processes
and techniques that will be directly applicable to industry.
Research Approach: The Rapid Manufacturing Center will focus on developing
breakthrough materials and process technology to manufacture rapid, low cost
production tools which will perform to the exacting standards of
conventional production tools. These durable tools will be built from unique
materials in layer manufacturing processes which are efficiently meshed with
CNC or novel final finishing processes. The ultimate goal is to provide the
RMC industrial members with tooling which will produce high quality product
at a fraction of the cost and time of conventional tooling.
Benefits of RMC Membership:
-Participate in selecting and managing future research projects which will
improve your company's profitability.
-Receive updates detailing the progress and results of on-going RMC
research efforts.
-Keep pace with technology improvements which occur in the field of rapid
tooling by RMC membership and interaction with other RMC members.
-Access to faculty who have expertise in state-of-the-art Rapid
Manufacturing techniques.
-Interaction with and mentoring of students involved in the RMC.
-Attendance at RMC meetings, seminars, short courses at no charge.
-First option to all RMC intellectual property developed.
-Opportunity to support additional research at URI at reduced costs.
-Opportunity to review all articles and presentations from RMC research
prior to submission for publication.
Cost of Membership:
-$30,000 per year membership fee of which the entire amount is available to
the RMC.
-In-kind support and equipment donations may be accepted as partial payment
for membership.
Contact Information:
Dr. Brent Stucker, RMC Director
URI Manufacturing Center
Dept. of Industrial Manufacturing Engr.
2 East Alumni Avenue, Gilbreth Hall
Kingston, RI 02881
Telephone: 401-874-5187
Fax: 401-874-5540
E-mail: stucker@egr.uri.edu
web: http://www.egr.uri.edu/ime/
Douglas A. VanPutte, Consultant
Specializing in Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Tooling
18 Cross Bow Drive
Rochester, NY 14624
Telephone/Fax: (716) 889-3601
vanputtd@frontiernet.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 22:44:47 EEST