Eight Local Companies to Join Automation Alley for Domestic Trade Mission

Article Reprint from CBS Detroit by Matt Roush, 2/19/2012

Automation Alley headquarters in Troy

TROY — Automation Alley said Friday that eight companies from Southeast Michigan will participate in a domestic trade mission to the Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare Winter Symposium and exhibition in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Feb. 22–24.

“Automation Alley has made a concerted effort to present our member companies with opportunities to expand into other markets and diversify their client base — opportunities that don’t have the significant cost associated with international trade missions,” said Noel Nevshehir, Automation Alley’s director of international business services. “Companies attending this mission will be able to make personal connections with key players in the defense industry, opening up exciting new possibilities for their companies.”

The following eight companies will attend:

* Power Panel Inc.: The Power Panel product line includes a unique, patented family of co-generating solar collectors, thermal storage tanks and complete balance of system components, mounting systems, embedded controls and web-enabled monitoring. More at www.powerpanel.com.

* DASI Solutions: DASI assists emerging sector companies in the implementation of CAD, CAE, and PDM collaborative technologies used by designing engineers in the product development process. More at www.dasi-solutions.com.

* Waltonen: Waltonen provides full-service engineering and design services, turnkey automated systems, system integration and personnel resource services. More at http://waltonen.com.

* Rave Computer: Rave Computer is a technology consultant and computer manufacturer focused on defense, homeland security and other industrial markets. Rave designs, builds and validates computer hardware solutions for military simulation training, real-world deployments (land, air or sea) and commercial applications. More atwww.rave.com.

* Quality Metalcraft Inc.: Quality Metalcraft is one of the leading prototype and low-volume production automotive suppliers in the world, covering all phases of design, engineering and manufacturing. More athttp://qualitymetalcraft.com.

* Alpha: Alpha is an engineering- and product development-based manufacturer dedicated to providing fresh product concepts, ideas and services to its valued customers. More at www.alphausa.com.

* Merrill Technologies: The Merrill Technologies Group companies are leaders in the machining, fabricating and systems integration fields, serving customers in a wide range of industries. More at www.merrilltg.com.

* Defense Corridor Center for Collaboration and Synergy (DC3S): Located in the heart of the Sterling Heights defense corridor, the DC3S is a 10-acre campus of multipurpose “flex” space, including office space, collaboration facilities and conference and meeting space. Located in close proximity to TACOM, TARDEC, NAC, PTAC, GDLS and other major defense contractors, the DC3S is ideal for companies seeking space for engineering, R&D, assembly, prototype and manufacturing. More at www.defensec3s.com.

This year’s conference — themed “America’s Army: Decisive Force” — will include participation from the U.S. Army Material Command; the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command; the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology; and the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command.

In partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Macomb County, participants will exhibit under the State of Michigan pavilion. This three-day event offers current and potential defense suppliers a unique and cost-effective way to exhibit their products, services and technologies to more than 4,000 potential buyers and end-users.

The AUSA ILW Winter Symposium and Exposition marks Automation Alley’s second domestic trade mission. Since 2001, Automation Alley has conducted 13 trade missions to countries across the globe, contributing to the creation of 917 new jobs and $166 million in new contracts garnered for participating companies and regions.

For more information, contact the Automation Alley Resource Center at (800) 427-5100 orinfo@automationalley.com .

To learn more about the AUSA ILW Winter Symposium, visitwww.ausa.org/meetings/2012/symposia/Winter/pages/2012winter.aspx.

Since its founding in 1999, Automation Alley has expanded to include nearly 1,000 businesses, educational institutions and government entities from the city of Detroit and the surrounding eight county region. Automation Alley promotes regional prosperity through entrepreneurial and exporting assistance, workforce development and technology acceleration.

Richard Darbyshire Talks About Automation Alley’s Electric Vehicle Charging Station, Future of the Electric Car in Michigan

Article Reprint from Automation Alley Newsletter, 11/15/2011

Automation Alley is committed to supporting the growth of the clean tech sector in Southeast Michigan. As a symbol of that support, an electric vehicle charging station was recently installed at Automation Alley Headquarters and is free to use for the first year. Richard Darbyshire, chief financial officer at DASI Solutions, LLC, was visiting Automation Alley for the monthly meeting of Peerspectives, and he took the opportunity to charge his Chevy Volt and to talk about the future of the electric car in Michigan. 

Darbyshire has owned his Volt since May and said his decision to purchase the car has more to do with his interest in the technology than being “green.”

“I just thought what the vehicle had in it was exciting, and I wanted to have a little bit more personal experience with it,” he said.

He’s happy with his purchase so far and said the Volt has been a non-limiting electric vehicle. In six months, he’s driven more than 7,000 miles.

Unfortunately, the infrastructure to support electric cars in Michigan is still quite limited. Darbyshire said he’s come across four charging stations in the last six months, and most weren’t in places he tends to frequent, but he thinks the number of stations will grow as demand increases.

 He regularly drives his Volt to the Detroit Athletic Club, a 30-mile trip from his home, and said, “I’m getting more and more frustrated knowing I can’t recharge my car when I go down there.”

“I can obviously drive on gas. It gives me that option, but … it’s more frustrating knowing that I could be driving on electric and that I would be doing a greener thing. And my car sat there long enough that it could have charged.”

He’s pleased that Automation Alley chose to be an early adopter of the technology. “I think Automation Alley itself has shown that they’re trying to be leaders in innovation, leaders in the technology that’s out there and breed that, rather than waiting for it to be demanded upon them. I think it shows they’re being … proactive,” he said.

The biggest hurdle to the success of the electric car, said Darbyshire, will be changing people’s perceptions, rather than the technology itself.

“Everyone I see says, ‘Oh, you can go further than 40 miles? I thought you couldn’t.’ I think probably the biggest limitation on the electric car in Michigan is people still have the paranoia they’re going to run out and be stuck someplace.”  

He recalled a conversation with an uncle who said he hoped Darbyshire wouldn’t run out of gas or electricity on his trip home. Darbyshire asked how often his uncle ran out of gas in his car, to which the uncle replied, “never.”

“And it’s like, ‘Well, why would you think I wouldn’t fill my tank up?’” said Darbyshire. “Like he almost thought there was like a Coke bottle of gas just to get me to the next charge.”

After six months of driving the Volt, Darbyshire says that the exciting part is figuring out just how many miles he can drive without refueling. “Right now I’m averaging 104 miles per gallon, which is unheard of,” he said.

Overall, Darbyshire is excited about the future of the electric car in Michigan and said the new charging station has given him additional incentive to visit Automation Alley. “I’m pretty excited. [Automation Alley has] a nice facility for us to use for meetings, and this made it even more pleasurable to come here. I think it’s great.”

Objet Continues 3D Printing Revolution - Launches High Temperature Material Combining Thermal Functionality with Outstanding Dimensional Stability

• Compact, office-friendly, multi-material 3D printer
• World’s only technology able to jet 2 materials at the same time to produce advanced composite materials and up to 14 individual material elements in one part, in a single print run
• Available with the newly released Objet ABS-like and clear transparent materials

Rehovot, Israel, July 6, 2011 - Objet Ltd., the innovation leader in 3D printing for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, today revealed the Objet260 Connex, a compact and attractively priced addition to Objet’s family of multi-material 3D printers. The Objet260 Connex is based on the company’s patented inkjet 3D printing technology – the world’s only rapid prototyping system able to jet 2 materials at the same time. This technology allows users to select from a large range of composite materials when building 3D models, such as Objet’s recently released ABS-like material. The system can also print a model replica made of up to 14 individual materials in a single print run.

Commenting on the new 3D printer, David Reis, CEO for Objet said, “The compact Objet260 Connex brings our high-resolution, multi-material 3D printing to new levels of accessibility for front-line designers and engineers who demand the highest quality prototypes and true-product representation. And all this in a system that is quiet, reliable and small enough to run in the corner of any office.”

The Objet260 Connex allows users to create prototypes containing distinct material elements, such as rigid walls with flexible, rubber-like joints or models combining transparent and opaque parts. According to Eli B Hamou, R&D Product Manager for Medtronic, a leading medical technology provider, “The Objet260 Connex multi-material 3D printer allows us to produce realistic anatomical models and prototypes of our medical devices by printing both rigid and flexible material elements in a single print job. This has enabled us to develop better end-products in far less time. It has also opened up for us a whole new direction for future research, that until now we were unable to practically consider.”

Lucien Hirschi, CEO for Zedax SA, a Swiss 3D printing service bureau said, “The new Objet260 Connex enables us to accurately simulate the real look and feel of the complex watch designs that we receive from watchmakers. As the only platform able to simulate the different material properties of assembled watches, the Objet260 Connex gives us a major advantage and enables us to expand our business opportunities.”

The Objet Connex family of 3D printers is the recipient of the EuroMold 2007 Innovation Award, recognizing the most innovative developments from the fields of mold-making and tooling, design and application development. It is used at companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, adidas AG, Trek Bicycles, DRS Tactical Systems, Vista Technologies, IPF, Zedax, Elster, Medtronic, and many others.

Notes for Editors
The Objet Connex family of multi-material 3D printers uses the world’s only multi-material 3D printing technology.

Multi-material 3D Printing – Objet’s inkjet-based technology is the only one that allows 2 materials to be jetted at the same time. This opens up a whole range of new applications for 3D printing, including the accurate representation of assembled goods and consumer products. For example, consumer device prototypes that require a particular tactile feel such as mobile phones can be accurately reproduced in a single print job using a hard material for the shell and a flexible material for the keypad.

Composite materials – Objet’s inkjet-based technology is the only technology that enables the mixing of 2 materials to produce new materials with distinct properties, textures and colors. From a base of 14 cartridge ready materials, users can create up to 51 composite, Digital Materials based on various combinations of the original 14. Examples include Objet’s newly released ABS-like Digital Material, able to simulate the toughness and high temperature resistance of ABS-grade engineering plastics.

Mixed parts – Using Objet’s multi-material 3D printers, users can print a model or prototype made of up to 14 distinct material elements. Such prototypes and models can consist of soft, flexible rubber-like elements, seamlessly joined with transparent elements, or rigid elements, in a number of various colors and shades. This capability provides a unique user experience for simulating gaskets, seals, hinges, shoe soles, tires and many other soft-touch applications.

The Objet260 Connex can use Objet’s range of over 60 printing materials which provide users with a wide range of mechanical, thermal and physical properties from rigid (Objet Vero family) to rubber (Objet Tango family) to clear transparency (Objet VeroClear) and ABS-grade engineering plastics (Objet RGD5160-DM).

The Objet260 Connex has a 260 x 260 x 200mm (10.2 x 10.2 x 7.9”) tray size and uses sealed material cartridges that are easy to insert and remove. Models are cured during the build process and can be handled immediately after printing. The system prints in 16-micron layers, producing models of unrivalled resolution detail and professional accuracy.

The Objet260 Connex Digital Media Kit is available online.

About Objet 
Objet Ltd., the innovation leader in 3D printing for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, provides 3-dimensional printing systems that enable manufacturers and industrial designers to reduce cost of product development and dramatically shorten time-to-market of new products.

Objet’s ultra-thin-layer, high-resolution 3-dimensional printing systems and materials utilize PolyJet polymer jetting technology, to print ultra-thin 16-micron layers. The market-proven Objet Eden line of 3D Printing Systems and the Objet24 and Objet30 desktop 3D printers are based on Objet’s patented office-friendly PolyJet Technology. The Objet Connex multi-material family is based on Objet’s PolyJet Matrix Technology, which jets multiple model materials simultaneously and creates composite Digital Materials on the fly. All Objet systems use Objet’s FullCure® materials to create accurate, clean, smooth, and highly detailed 3D parts.

Objet systems are in use by customers worldwide, including Fortune 100 companies, in multiple industries such as automotive, architecture, consumer goods and electronics, dental, defense, education, industrial machinery, medical, medical devices, toys, footwear and service bureaus.

Founded in 1998, Objet serves its growing global customer base through offices in USA, Mexico, Europe, Japan, China and Hong Kong, and a global network of distribution partners. Objet owns more than 110 patents and patent pending inventions. For more information, visit us at www.objet.com, and for more about 3D printing industry-related news, business issues and trends, read the Objet blog.

© 2010 Objet, Quadra, QuadraTempo, PolyJet, FullCure, SHR, Eden, Eden250, Eden260, Eden 260V, Eden330, Eden350, Eden350V, Eden500V, Job Manager, Objet Studio, CADMatrix, Connex, Connex350, Connex500, Alaris, Alaris30, PolyLog, TangoBlack, TangoGray, TangoPlus, TangoBlackPlus, VeroBlue, VeroWhite, VeroBlack, VeroGray, Durus, Digital Materials, Polyjet Matrix and ObjetGreen are trademarks or registered trademarks of Objet Geometries Ltd. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

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