Telford-based Protolabs, a
digital manufacturer of custom prototypes, is investing in services that help engineers to cut costs and speed up the production of low-volume parts.

The company is offering specialist analyst advice for taking a ‘family moulding’ approach to tooling —
a move it says could see costs slashed by around 40% on some injection moulding projects (www.protolabs.co.uk).

It has also begun stocking and supplying threaded brass inserts for injection moulding production, offering a cost-effective and more-efficient alternative for customers currently supplying their own part inserts.

David Barnes, Protolabs EMEA injection moulding product manager, said: “Improving our processes and developing the services we provide is at the heart of our business philosophy.

"We strive to support our customers in every way we can, particularly by helping them get their products to market and generate revenue as quickly as possible.

"Both the introduction of our insert supply service and the specialist advice on family tooling are very much part of that.

“If you can produce two or more parts from the same mould, then you could make significant cost savings. While our Protoquote ‘design for manufacturability’ analysis software will help you with the design of parts, we are offering the specialist support of our application engineers for family and other multi-cavity moulds.

“To help us identify parts that are suitable for family moulding, we suggest that you upload CAD designs for the same project concurrently, so that our analysts can identify potential opportunities for you.

"Of course, if you think that two or more parts may be suitable for multi-cavity moulding, then it is worth drawing our attention to it — we can advise you on what is possible.”