FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EuroMold 2000 to Feature International
Conference on Rapid Production
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, August 8, 2000 - DEMAT Exposition Managing and
Wohlers Associates, Inc. announced today a new industry event focused on
the rapid production of manufactured parts using methods of rapid
prototyping (RP). The international conference coincides with EuroMold
2000, a trade fair that is expected to draw more than 50,000 engineers,
tool and die makers, managers, and executives from around the world. In
the past, RP technologies have been used mainly for concept modeling,
prototyping, and tooling, but this conference will target applications of
RP for finished manufactured parts and assemblies.
"Increasingly, companies are exploring innovative ways of manufacturing
products as they deal with the growing appetite for product variety among
consumers," explained Terry Wohlers of Wohlers Associates, Inc.
"Manufacturing companies are under pressure to market a much higher number
of products in a given product family, but at lower quantities," he said.
Another trend is the movement toward mass customization, where ultimately,
a production run will consist of a single part-an inherit strength of RP.
"It is a privilege for me to be a part of a conference of this importance
and one that is affiliated with the enormously successful EuroMold
exhibition," Wohlers remarked.
"For manufacturing companies worldwide, EuroMold has become the event to
attend," said Ulrich Clemens, formerly with the Fraunhofer Institute of
Production Technology and currently the director of marketing at DEMAT.
"Its depth and breadth in technologies and applications for product
development and manufacturing offers a showcase like no other," Clemens
said. An estimated 1,800 exhibitors from 35 countries will display their
products and services at EuroMold 2000, set for November 29 - December 2 in
Frankfurt, Germany. The one-day event on rapid manufacturing, titled "RP =
Rapid Production: An International Conference," will be held on December 1.
As the RP industry explores the opportunity of applying its impressive
technologies to production applications, it is faced with a number of
challenges, including material properties, surface finish, and speed.
Already, new developments in academia and industry suggest that some of
these challenges can be overcome. While the mechanical and thermal
properties of some RP materials are not suitable for many products, some of
the newer epoxy resins, and certainly the ABS, nylon, and composite
materials are sufficient for many production applications. "A wide variety
of production parts, such as those found in industrial and business
machinery, are hidden from view, so their appearance is not critical,"
Wohlers explained. "Methods of RP are most suitable for production
quantities when the parts being built are small because they require less
time to build," he continued.
World-class speakers and panelists will discuss these and other concerns at
the conference. Carefully selected individuals from around the world will
share their personal experiences and vision based on their deep
understanding of where the technology is headed. Never before has such an
impressive group of speakers gathered to address the subject in a way that
will help managers understand the technology's economic potential. The
conference is being targeted at managers and executives from manufacturers
of consumer electronics, sporting goods, toys, medical supplies and
instruments, industrial machinery, business machines, aircraft, and
automobiles.
The Global Alliance of Rapid Prototyping Associations (GARPA), an
organization formed in 1998 to encourage the exchange of information across
international borders, has endorsed the event. Members of GARPA are
serving as the technical advisory committee for the conference. GARPA
members include groups and associations in Australia, Canada, mainland
China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. A GARPA
reception will follow the conference, where representatives will be on hand
to answer questions. The official language of the conference is English.
DEMAT Exhibition Managing, located in Frankfurt, Germany, is the organizer
of EuroMold 2000 and the one-day conference on rapid production. Ms. Diana
Schnabel and Dr. Eberhard Döring are DEMAT's top executives. For more
information on the trade fair and conference, phone
49 69 27 40 03 0, fax 49 69 27 40 03 40, or visit www.euromold.com.
Wohlers Associates, Inc. provides technical, marketing, and strategic
consulting on the new developments and trends in product development,
prototyping, tooling, and manufacturing. Terry Wohlers, co-founder of
GARPA and president of Wohlers Associates, is speaking at and chairing the
conference. For more information on Wohlers Associates, visit
WohlersAssociates.com.
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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