Part of the Peli UK Group since 2012, MSA Foams Ltd offers a wide range of transit cases and produces bespoke foam inserts and packaging for the protection of items being transported.
To help satisfy the growing demand for its products, the Dorset-based company has invested heavily in relocating to new premises, employing more staff and buying the latest foam design and cutting technologies.
Foam inserts can be custom-designed and produced to protect most customer products and to match almost any type of case or container.
In order to be as responsive as possible to customers’ needs, and to provide the most accurate custom-cut foam inserts, MSA recently invested in a Faro Edge ScanArm HD and Geomagic software from Rugby-based Faro Technologies UK Ltd (
www.faro.com).
The use of this advanced portable device, which features rapid action and quick set-up times, allows customers’ products to be scanned quickly and accurate profiles and dimensional data to be captured.
After the scanning routine has been completed, the acquired data allows virtual representations of foam inserts and cases to be shown to customers.
On receipt of an order, the scanned product data also allows the rapid programming of MSA’s range of CNC ‘conversion machinery’.
The efficient design-to-manufacture process facilitated by the use of the Faro Edge ScanArm HD allows the accurate production of precise foam inserts that, when incorporated into a chosen case, ensure the optimum protection of the items being transported.
Neil McMillan, MSA’s managing director, said: “To enable the company to remain a market leader in its chosen field, we pursue a policy of employing highly skilled staff and making regular investment in the best available technologies.
Every one of our foam products is custom-designed; and as we offer a wide range of foams — including flame-retardant, static-dissipative, anti-static and water-resistant options — we can provide excellent levels of protection in transit for all of our customers’ products. When it is needed, we also ensure outstanding product presentation.”
Improved designs
Mr McMillan also ascertained that the use of an advanced means of precise contact and non-contact measurement would further improve the accuracy capability of the company’s design department, as well as speed up the design process.
“We also knew that appropriate technology would help fast-track the transfer of design data to our CNC-based manufacturing plant. Having considered several options from major manufacturers, an in-house demonstration of the Faro Edge ScanArm HD confirmed that the instrument was ideal for our needs.
“Now fully operational and in regular use by our design staff for undertaking both tactile and non-contact measuring procedures, the equipment has given us a wide range of advantages.
“In addition to offering high-quality cost-effective products, we pride ourselves in providing the quickest order turn-round in our industry. Our use of the Edge ScanArm HD has helped us in all of these areas. Indeed, for many applications, we can scan customers’ products more accurately and produce designs for foam inserts much faster than before.
Further efficiencies have been gained by using the scan data to quickly program our CNC foam-cutting machines. As the Faro product has reduced both our design and pre-manufacturing times, it has helped us to slash our order-to-delivery periods. These time savings also help us to quote very competitive prices.”
The Edge ScanArm HD as used by MSA features enhanced scanning technology, allowing materials with challenging optical qualities to be scanned easily and in a short time.
Furthermore, improved software algorithms allow the scanning of materials with contrasting colours in the one operation.