The world of layered or Additive manufacturing

Melotte wint "All Star Innovation" award

2011-11-21T14:24:00.001+01:00

And the Winner is...

2011-11-17T15:23:00.001+01:00

MELOTTE

My colleagues and I are very proud to announce that, today at the Creativity World Forum 2011 in Hasselt (Belgium), in the presence of Mr. Johann Leten (CEO Voka Limburg) Mario received the ALL STAR INNOVATION AWARD out of the hands of Mr. Anthony Parkes, Director of the World Chamber Federation.

We thank the international jury of Managing Directors of Chambers of Commerce worldwide for giving this precious honour to our company meaning that Mario and his team have inspired them.

It encourages Melotte to build out the international network of DDM organisations based on its own mission and thus changing the manufacturing paradigm while reducing the impact of manufacturing on our generation and future generation to.

Mario and his team also congratulate the other nominees Mr. Frank Zwerts (Visys) and Mr. Matty Zadnikar (Z-Group) for their outstanding performance. Keep up the good work!

Melotte DDM at Creativity World Forum 2011

2011-11-14T11:53:00.000+01:00

CREATIVITY WORLD FORUM,16 & 17.11.2011 (Ethias Arena Hasselt, Belgium)

Flanders DC aims to get you to start a creative spring in your organisation. Next Wednesday they will kick off with inspiring speakers and workshops.

I am proud to announce that Mario will be one of them.

Are you also eager to blow your mind and get inspired by Mario? Please visit the link below to find out more about his seven minute session "HOW DIRECT DIGITAL MANUFACTURING ALLOWS CREATING OBJECTS WITH MINIMAL WASTE".

www.flandersdc.be/en/events/cwf11/speakers/7-min.-speakers/mario-fleurinck

Nomination "All Star Innovation Award"

2011-10-28T12:37:00.000+02:00

TodayI am pleased to announce that Melotte has been nominated for the ALL STAR INNOVATION AWARD. Aninternational jury of Managing Directors of Chambers of Commerce worldwide willdecide which Belgian company will receive this precious honour.

Thejury is asked to watch an online company movie and is invited for an online votingafterwards by answering questions such as: “Whichof these innovative companies inspires you the most?” and “Which company has the biggest economic potential”?

In1950 the World Chamber Federation (WCF) was first established by ICC as theinternational Bureau of Chambers of Commerce with today more than 12 000Chamber of Commerce member organisations worldwide. Together they representover 40 million companies. WCFis a non-political, non-governmental body representing interests of local,national, regional, bilateral and transnational chambers of commerce andindustry. WCF strengthens links between chambers, enabling them to improveperformance as well as discover new products and services to offer theirmembers.

Melotte(together with the two other nominees Visys and Z-Group) will be presented atthe Creativity World Forum on the 16^th and 17^th of Novembernext offering a great opportunity to show the world how innovative our businessis.

TheVOKA – KvK Limburg has invited the Australian Mr Anthony Parkes, Director ofthe WCF, to present the ALL STAR INNOVATION AWARD personally on the mainstageof the Creativity World Forum in the Ethias Arena (Hasselt, Belgium) on17.11.2011.

Let's cross our fingers that Melotte will be rewarded as innovative companywith a huge worldwide potential.

Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) at a glance

2011-10-25T13:49:00.000+02:00

Mario, CEO Melotte, is a passionate serial entrepreneur who believes that technology and manufacturing are playing a significant role in redesigning social economic models. Following the success of Melotte’s Direct Digital Manufacturing (http://www.melotte.be/) Mario is asked frequently to share his vision with a various public of entrepeneurs, politicians, influentials and students. Melotte is pleased to announce on his blog upcoming events where Mario is invited as one of the selected keynote speakers. He starts next month at the

BLUE ECONOMY CONFERENCE, 03.11.2011 (Brussels’ Heizel, Belgium)

JCI will present an Expert Day based on the Blue economy, Green Energy and Corporate Social Responsibility.

The aim of this Expert Day is to provide examples of how to ensure the change is positive and bring out the strengths we are all capable of. Our goal is to give every attendee the inspiration to think creatively and to act innovatively within their own personal and professional environment.”

At this event Mario will give a unique combined presentation “Direct Digital Manufacturing for Growth” together with Juul Vanleysen (founder of Holistic Architecture 50 │ 5 and CVO – founder of MaterialSource) and Serge de Gheldere (Design Engineer and Founder/CEO of Futureproofed. Together they will link their personal experiences with the ‘new’ world of the blue economy and green technology.

Please have a look at http://www.blueeconomy.be for more information.

Symbiosis of DDM and Conventional Processes

2011-02-08T15:50:00.026+01:00

A few years ago Melotte announced Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) as part of its strategic diversification and innovative complement to the existing high precision manufacturing methods.

Today Melotte's co-workers are proud to highlight the symbiosis of DDM and high-end NC machining.

You will find out more about Melotte's Digital Factory by clicking below.

At Melotte we move step-by-step towards fully integrated digital manufacturing. Last year we ran a lot of manufacturing batches based on the combination of additive manufacturing processes and high-end NC machining. Both on economics and environmental impact we score excellent figures. Nevertheless we aim at using the best suitable technology for each project. Some are specific for DDM while others still remain conventional tracks.

For your information, a complete set of aluminum housing (5 parts) was delivered in five working days at a cost of about 1.600 €.

Enjoy the movie!

Invitation: Motorola Solar Tour at ZONHOVEN on 20/08/10

2010-08-17T13:26:00.017+02:00

Next Friday (20/08/10) the Belgian Solar Team will visit Zonhoven to promote the Motorola Solar Tour 2010.

WHERE? Centre of Zonhoven, church square, near the offices of "Toeristische Dienst"

WHEN? Friday, 20 August 2010 at 15:00

A television crew filmed the Solar Team as well as their sponsors, including the Belgian high tech company Melotte.

You will see live images of Melotte's development, design and manufacturing of the mono-block full titanium lightweight steering wheel of the Belgian Solar car, edition 2009:

http://video.canvas.be/solar-race-australie-afl-1-innovatief-stuur

Melotte invites you to join this fantastic event on 20/08/10 at Zonhoven.

DDM News: FORMING PIPE ASSEMBLY

2010-07-16T12:08:00.005+02:00

As innovative partner, Melotte has significant expertise on developing solutions within the scope of Direct Digital Manufacturing.
Herewith we are presenting you such a state-of-the-art project, called “Forming Pipe Assembly” which Melotte just finished for one of its customers. It is a fantastic example to prove how Additive Manufacturing helps to reduce waste, weight and emissions during the production process.

This assembly of high quality material Inconel 718 components is thin (only 1 mm) and has free form transport channels inside. Due to its geometrical complexity it is impossible to cast.

In comparison to the conventional part equivalent we profit material savings as well as savings on production cost and time. To be continued...

On the picture (from left to right): Mario Fleurinck, CEO Melotte NV & Bram and John, two members of the Melotte DDM Team.

"Let the Chefs meet the Chiefs", Burgundian Futurism.

2010-06-02T11:54:00.017+02:00

Belgian gastronomy is world-wide promoted by the Flanders Taste Foundation. When they organized the Flemish Primitives event last February, chefs and scientists gathered in Belgium to unveil new kitchen technology and set culinary standards for the future.
Former prime minister Yves Leterme's idea to have entrepreneurs (Chiefs) and chefs de cuisine (Chefs) build the strong brand "Belgium", was caught by Mr. Kris Sierens (BeforeTheHype). He created an image book called Belgian CHEFS bringing 25 tasteful success stories together."This book clearly demonstrates that we Belgians are second to no one in the world when it comes to entrepeneurship and gastronomy". Each story is related to a large, medium or small innovative company in a particular business sector and to the CEOs who lead them. Some of the participating chefs are already top chefs and others are relatively unknown talents.

The company Melotte has been chosen to represent the new business sector "Direct Digital Manufacturing".
"By giving up its identity as just another toolmaker that provided precision components, Melotte has turned itself into the world's first direct digital manufacturer" ... "Melotte uses cutting edge laser technology to "grow" machine parts from powdered metals."

Mario Fleurinck (CEO Melotte, Zonhoven) and Dimitry Lysens (Magis, Tongeren) were brought together: "both have the knowledge of how to bring the right ingredients together to create the highest possible quality. The interaction between two creative leaders is used to create a unique gourmet recipe as well as a recipe for business success."
"It is remarkable how two people who look and act so differently at their first meeting, can rapidly discover that what they do and what drives them is very similar."

"They both exhibit a kind of permanent introspective criticism when performing their primary task. No result is ever entirely good enough, or in Dimitry's case, even close to good enough. Before a new product is finished at Melotte or a new dish is served in Magis, they are already thinking of ways to improve it. "Both have a similar view on being a chef and a sharp vision of their role. "They describe it as a constant search for equilibrium between steering and cooperating. It means leading a team and - as much as possible - being a part of it a the same time. Both agree that this is only possible when you have a clear vision of where you intend to go and are able to communicate it."...

Among other fine stories in the book "CHEFS", Imec and The Chocolate Line caught my attention. Imec is an independant research centre - regularly working together with Melotte on cutting edge technology projects - specializing in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. Chef Jeroen Meus sees a similar evolution in gastronomy with a growing trend to cook on a more detailed level: "Products developed in the molecular cuisine laboratories can help." "The Belgian chocolate story is one of an ongoing success and the reason for that are inventive people like Dominique Persoone (The Chocolate Line)."

These days it becomes more and more clear that being successful is equal to being innovative, creative and above all changing ideas with inspiring people. May the cross exchange project Belgian CHEFS be inspiring to all of you, inside as well as outside the kitchen.

Melotte CLEANTECH AMBASSADOR

2010-03-02T10:49:00.006+01:00

After winning the ITM Award in the category "Best Practice in Manufacturing" last year and the Voka Chamber of Commerce Innovation Award 2009, Melotte was selected by the Belgian Cleantechplatform to become a Cleantech Ambassador.

Cleantechplatform.be is a project of the University of Hasselt (Belgium) together with the investment company LRM who started a project for stimulating and extending Cleantech activities in the province of Limburg and the region of Flanders (Belgium) by corroborating interaction and co-operation between companies, investors, the authorities, consumers and knowledge centers. The platform is looking for durable innovation to optimally use economic opportunities and possibilities of environment as well as energy technology.

Melotte is a Belgian company worldwide active in development and manufacturing of high-precision parts for the biomedical, petrochemical and nuclear industry, aeronautics and tooling. Besides this business Melotte acts as an incubation center for new technology and is a pioneer in Direct Digital Manufacturing. Starting from powder metals the company produces parts by laser technology in its digital factory.

Cleantechplatform recognizes the foundation of Melotte’s successful future, meaning a well-considered combination of advanced conventional production methods, Digital Design, Additive Manufacturing Processes and state-of-the-art finishing technologies within the frame of Melotte’s company vision “Technologies to prevent Global Warming”.
Melotte’s contribution to fight global warming is the maximum reduction of energy consumption by means of manufacture efficiency rather than investments in the production of green energy. The company has put this into practice since the recent renovation of the office building according to the principles of Passiv House. Optimization of the building envelope with recyclable materials, balanced ventilation and heat recuperation of the laser machines to warm the meeting rooms and offices proof this every day.

Melotte on CANVAS - 29/12 at 10.10 pm

2009-12-23T12:21:00.013+01:00

In August Melotte published "Light weight solutions based on DDM Technology" and "The revolutionary e-Texturing in Digital Manufacturing" on this blog.

Today we are proud to present live images of the development, design and manufacturing of the mono-block full titanium lightweight steering wheel of the Belgian "Umicar Inspire" Solar car. Now Melotte Direct Digital Manufacturing is in the picture thanks to a documentary on Belgian television about 14 students' adventure participating in the World Solar Challenge for Solar Cars in Australia.

During the last 6 months a television crew filmed these students as well as their sponsors which are all Belgian high tech companies.
On http://video.canvas.be/solar-race-australie-afl-1-innovatief-stuur you will see the fragment where the project highlights Melotte's DDM participation.

Melotte's CEO, Mr Mario Fleurinck, and his team take this opportunity to wish all blog readers a MERRY CHRISTMAS and CREATIVE & INSPIRING 2010.

Melotte wins VOKA INNOVATION AWARD 2009

2009-12-09T14:48:00.004+01:00

On the 8th of December last, during the successful and crowded Open Innovation Forum, the Voka - Chamber of Commerce Limburg - presented the Voka Innovation Award to Melotte.

Last year Voka started this new tradition of awarding an innovative company in Limburg calling attention to innovative products, services and processes developed in Limburg. On the other hand the organisation wants to inspire trade and industry by good real practice and encourage to innovate efficiently.

A jury of 7 experts analysed the 17 candidates thoroughly based on some well-considered questions: “Is it an innovative organisation?”, “Is the project well defined, surprising and inspiring?”,”Does the project have market potential?”, “Will the project or company support the image intensification of Limburg as innovative and creative region, nationally as well as internationally?”

After an intensive deliberation the jury selected 6 nominees of which the company Melotte received the highest score at the end.

The jury was impressed by Melotte’s international innovation approach of products and processes. Besides conventional production methods the company’s focus is on manufacturing high-precision parts by means of a complete digital process based on Additive Manufacturing* technologies (* using metal powder Melotte builds products through laser technology).

All positive aspects of Additive Manufacturing i.e. freedom of form, precision, micro dimensions, speed and environment together with the international roll out of Melotte’s new business model in promising markets were tasted well by the jury.

It was a great honour for Mario Fleurinck, CEO of Melotte NV, to receive the award (designed by PHL-student Lore Langendries) from Ms. Ingrid Lieten, Vice-Minister-President of the Flemish Government, Flemish Minister for Innovation, Public Investment, Media and Poverty Reduction.

Leading Belgian magazine "Trends" published rewarding article about Melotte

2009-11-04T11:29:00.022+01:00

http://www.melotte.be/MELOTTE/EN/COMPANY/NEWS/29092009.htm

With a technology to produce machine parts from powder Melotte shifts the paradigm on industrial traditions of metal manufacturing in Zonhoven (Belgium). So revolutionary that even low-wage countries cannot compete.

In Zonhoven Melotte’s CEO, Mr Mario Fleurinck, points at the laser robot that in no time produces precision machine parts, cardiac valves and other medical implants layer by layer from fine titanium powder, called Layered Manufacturing.

Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) is part of Melotte’s strategic diversification and is considered an innovative complement to the existing high-precision production apparatus. The company works on projects for customers from US, South-Africa, Saudi-Arabia, Malaysia and even China where DDM serves integrally finished products.
The DDM experience of Melotte demonstrates that industrial production flocking to low-wage countries can be considerably reduced by working on an efficient innovation model with interference in design and production methods.
“As digital factory Melotte uses technology which will be very common within fifteen to twenty years.” So the next years Melotte’s CEO wants to go further and build a complete new industrial sector. Surely it is not his intention to produce for the whole world in Zonhoven because this would be contradictory to the vision that materials as well as products need to be transported as little as possible. For that reason subsidiaries will be set up worldwide under Melotte’s flag in order to produce parts close to the end user.

Terry Wohlers from Colorado, an authority in additive or layered manufacturing calls the performance of Melotte impressive. Therefore he invites Mr Fleurinck as guest speaker on the 11th Annual International Wohlers Conference “The Future of Additive Manufacturing” in Frankfurt on December 4 next.

See http://www.euromold.com/index.php?id=115 for more information.

Those of you who are anxious to learn more about Melotte's DDM there is another possibility at MIDEST - Expo 2009 where you can join Mr Fleurinck's lecture about "Direct Digital Manufacturing as Strategic element in advanced Tooling Solutions at Melotte" on Thursday, 19 November 2009 from 4.00 pm till 5.00 pm, l' Espace Conférences 2 (Stand 6 D 7), Paris Nord Villepinte - France.

Layered Manufacturing Association on Linked

2009-10-30T15:14:00.007+01:00

A few months ago we launched our Layered Manufacturing Association on Linked. We're absoluely happy with the number of participants today. The Association aims at stimulating cross exchange on layered manufacturing processes and interaction betwee n players worldwide.

Everyone is welcome, we simply ask an open mind and the right balance between publicity and added value. The group is mixed; industry, academic specialists from all over the world get in contact.

Feel free to join and let's discuss and further develop the excited Additive, Layered Manufacturing and Direct Digital Manufacturing market.

Titanium Light-weight / Thin Walled (0,4 mm) OEM parts

2009-10-12T09:26:00.011+02:00

Project Purpose: For a leading OEM active in the textile industry we've run a project based on "Industrialisation and mass customized production" of fingers used in yarn processing industries. The part flips, at maximum speed, 3000 times/minute over 180°. In this project a combination of lightweight product re-engineering and “mass” customization is made. The contact angle and the finger quantity change depending on the yarn characteristics. The re-engineered part is hybrid, customized and light-weight.

This project shows the advantages of Thin Walled products in highly dynamic operational environments. The fact that the contact angle has become variable offer the customer the possibility to add value in the process and to integrate with the end-user.

Project Features:

- 3D modeling and business process engineering of thin walled tubes

- Automated contact angle calculation (OEM) and mechanical property analysis (Conventional vs DDM Manufactured)
- FEA analysis
- Complete Part production and assembly from Solid to Model (Direct Manufacturing, coating & high-end component finishing)
- Industrialisation R&D and process definition, 1400 parts per year.

Aerosol Flame Reactor Nozzle Hybrid parts in Inconel 718, 2.4668

2009-09-29T13:22:00.006+02:00

Market Release: Industrialisation and serial production of Nozzles used in the production of submicron un- agglomerated solid crystalline particles in an aerosol flame reactor by a spray pyrolysis method. Melotte’s engineering capabilities and experience in Inconel 718 conventional machining in combination with the Near-To-Net-Shape DDM methods are key in the product re-engineering of these process critical parts. The re-engineered part is hybrid and versatile. It took us about 4 months to run the entire project. We've used following features:

- 3D modeling and reverse engineering of complex features via optical scanning (free forms) and mechanical property analysis (Conventional versus Layered Manufactured)
- Thermodynamic analysis on nozzle outlet. (influence thermal expansion on booster properties)
- Complete Part production and assembly from Solid to Model (Direct Manufacturing & high-end component finishing)
- Industrialisation R&D and process definition, 200 parts/year

We thank our customer for giving us the ability to share this project with our Blogreaders! Thanks Phil!

Lightweight Solutions based on DDM Technology

2009-08-28T11:25:00.002+02:00

Market Release: The economical climate has positive effects on the way people look at our developments, in the past few weeks we’ve run multiple projects based on weight-saving programs. Although most of them are “not for publication” we’re proud to highlight a project for the next generation automotive industry, the one focusing on Solar cars…. Melotte supports the Belgian Solar team since many years, at this year’s edition we’ve done two important projects. The first one is another weight saving project on magnetic in-wheel motor, this is a pure multitask milling project, the second one is full DDM project and contributes substantially on this year’s challenge to minimize excess material.

In the past the team used a conventional steering wheel made out of aluminum, the raw material (4,5 Kg) was milled down to a basic geometry. Given the tight space in Solar car’s cockpit the conventional steering wheel did not feel comfortable. Driving the car down-under in extreme climate conditions pushed the engineers to develop a mono-block full titanium light-weight steering wheel. Based on FEA analysis’s we’ve come to the conclusion that we could hollow-out the part and take the walls down to 0,8 mm. All this results in a huge weight saving, above we’ve been able to reduce Buy-To-Fly ratio’s from 4,5 Kg (conventional milled) to 0,3 Kg, DDM based on layer manufacturing. Another good example of Carbon Footprint optimization and more precise a raw material saving of about 90%. Finally we’ve realized a nice piece of engineering and we wish the Solar Team all the best during The World Solar Challenge in Australia!

E-Texturing is a revolution in digital manufacturing

2009-08-14T10:25:00.006+02:00

Market Release: Since a few months we’re actively developing e-texturing features on DDM parts. Mainly we add texture (soft gripping, leather texturing, topographical features) on 3D solids and produce these in a Direct Digital way. Instead of having advanced post-processing treatments such as milling/EDM, we simply add it on the surface of the digital model (STL based). Tests have been made on thin walled parts, mould inserts and even on some medical implants. All of them being ready for market release as from now!

e-Texture is one of the latest software solutions of Materialise. The software enables to apply a 3D Texture on a 3D digital model. The uniqueness of e-Texture is that the texture will thus be applied during printing and not after printing, resulting in time and cost savings. Lieve Boeykens, Sales Manager at Materialise says: “In house we can experiment enough with printing plastics, however having no own metal machine, we have to rely on our good relations with Melotte.” Being both partner of the Belgium Solar Team (http://www.solarteam.be/ ), a project was easily defined to print the first model in titanium with a leather texture immediately applied during printing. The pictures shows the first result coming from Melotte’s DDM set-up. The part is thin walled (0,8 mm) and freeform, cost savings are important and most of all, we respect extremely short delivery times and can easily confirm the accuracy by showing the optical comparison. Another good example of what DDM can bring to you!

Melotte@ a glance

2009-06-19T15:21:00.004+02:00

Digital Factory movie: For overseas customers it’s not easy to get a good view on our Direct Digital Manufacturing Set-up. Therefore we’ve create a movie that shows all the aspects of our vertically integrated Direct Digital Manufacturing shop. The video shows the digital chain, from 3D file over powder to finished high precision part. This movie was shown at the Rapid Manufacturing General Assembly, held last month in Brussels. Now it’s more obvious for RM users to decide on the digital chain. You can find the movie on www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOwBZRLlwl4

Last month the Belgian commercial Television channel VTM reported on our Digital Factory as well. This has been a big success, we’ve become a curiosum in Belgium’s technology garden… Please feel free and have a look at www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWX4VcE81Ck

We’re happy to announce the release of our new Inconell 600 grade material, this material is now available for DDM. Early august we’ll release other materials.

Melotte Wins ITM Award 2009 in the Category “Best Practice in Manufacturing”

2009-05-15T15:03:00.003+02:00

Melotte is the proud winner of the ITM Award 2009 for Overall Best Performer in the Category “Best Practices In Manufacturing” in Belgium. The award was presented by Belgium’s Minister of Economy, Vincent Van Quickenborne, at the Price Giving Ceremony show on Thursday 14th May 2009 in Brussels. The whole management team was present to celebrate this victory together with me. This prize corroborates Melotte’s position as a technology leader in both the local & international markets.

I was proud to accept the award on behalf of Melotte, and of all the fantastic people that make our organization what it is today. I have uploaded pictures to our Weblog “The World Of Layered Manufacturing”, and here are also a few from the event. Unfortunately, attending this event meant that I had to miss my Key-note Speaking engagement at the Rapid Implant Manufacturing Forum in Schaumburg, Illinois.

During the price giving ceremony, ITM’s Advisory Board Chairman Mr. Prof. Marc Van Overmeire, Chief Research Officer@vinçotte and Professor at the VUB stressed on the entrepreneurship, technological front-end innovations and internationalization in Melotte’s Magnesium Moulding Project. Melotte is a pioneer in Direct Digital Manufacturing and combines Ecology and Economy in a smart and profitable way.

Being in charge of this magnificent company, Melotte, is exciting and rewarding! We’ll continue developing advanced technologies in close cooperation with our knowledge partners; academic and governmental Research Institutes, customers, OEM’s and count on the support of our Shareholder.

Please have a look at www.roulartaprofessional.be/itm/video/video.jsp?file=Melotte_20090513

Do not hesitate to contact us in case you would like to receive more information about our Direct Digital Manufacturing Solutions.

TCT magazine & JOBAT reports on Melotte

2009-04-09T09:11:00.005+02:00

The Rapid Manufacturing Market is growing rapidly, TCT Magazine is the leading media partner for the RM industry. On their blog, www.tctmagazine.com/x/blog.html, TCT reports on Melotte's developments in Direct Digital Manufacturing and the impact of this technology on the environment.

We quote Mr. Duncan Woods, " I'm often struck by the disruptive nature of RM and how it completely changes the way people go about their daily tasks, we all know that designing for RM has a complete set of new rules, but imagine the change in thinking for a surgeon if within 36 hours of having a CT scan the patient in question can be the recipient of bespoke, ready to use, titanium heart valves. Sounds good doesn't it? Well Melotte have done this and plenty more besides with their Selective Laser Melting, Direct Metal Deposition and Electron Beam Melting technologies.Melotte have a an interesting take on things. Yes they expound the business case for RM, reducing time-to-market, reducing cost and improving efficiency but they also take this to a natural conclusion, and one that is gaining more and more momentum in this sector as we move forward. The conclusion is that RM is also good for the environment with less material use, less energy used and less waste."

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Also JOBAT, a leading Belgian magazine reported on Melotte's DDM activities. In the article JOBAT focussed on the HR topics related to the development of MElotte's DDM set-up and the way our team worked together during these challening times. Many times we went form zero-to-hero and back! We still commit to transparancy and mutual respect and this has been te trigger for JOBAT to report on our developments.

During his lecture at the Rapid Prototyping & Product Design Conference, held last week in Kortrijk Melotte's CEO explained the huge impact of RM on the Business Resources Efficiency & Waste metrics and the related economics. Though we agree that we're still far away from a total take-over of Conventional Processes by DDM the economical crisis boosts the development. Lost wax processes are currenthly being replaced by DDM methods.

Next week multiple engineering sessions are planned and engineers are being transformed into DDM Design Specialists. We really appriciate the efforts made by the engineers and are convinced about the positive outcome.

During the lecture a young and brilliant believer, Mr. Nils Ferlin (Lector Industrial Design at the HOWEST), challenged the impact of CO2 on Global Warming. We agree that CO2 is often used as a buzzword and we believe that pollution, energy saving or raw material savings could have been a better and more appropriate term in our marketing. Nils will visit Melotte in the next few weeks and discuss the topic with Melotte's Environmental Advisory Board. Conclusions will be taken into consideration and our marketing campaign will be adapted upon. We thank Mr. Ferlin for his positive and constructive contribution and look forward to the meeting.

Upcoming DDM events!

2009-03-18T12:53:00.003+01:00

Though Melotte’s activities on DDM are known in the market we believe that the paradigm shift only can be reached by bringing the message to more interested DDM believers. Therefore we would like to take the opportunity to list a few of the upcoming DDM events.

(1), Rapid Prototyping Event 2009: Design & Prototyping" on April the 2nd 2009 at the Industrial Design Center in Kortrijk (Belgium). Melotte’s CEO will present some practical cases in DDM in combination with Optical Scanning, Micro Tomography and advanced component finishing technologies. See practical information at www.protolab.be

(2), RIMF’s Advisory Board is pleased to inform you that Melotte’s abstract, Direct Digital Manufacturing@Melotte, Scan based implant modeling technologies in a digital vertically integrated manufacturing environment, has been reviewed favorably and selected by the advisors to be presented at the Rapid Implant Manufacturing Forum (RIMF) held alongside SME’s Rapid Conference & Tradeshow on May 13, 2009 in Schaumburg, Illinois USA. Melotte’s CEO will present the developments on Direct Digital Implant Manufacturing. Info at www.sme.org/rapid

(3) DDM technology transfer sessions @ Melotte, almost 80 Melotte customers have participated at DDM sessions. During this interactive session Melotte presents his DDM offer and highlights on the importance of DDM in order to reduce Global Warming. Next to the overall business outline we concentrate on transferring our knowledge on DDM Product development to the audience. So far we did concentrate on our loyal customers. As from June we’re opening the sessions for individual DDM believers. These sessions will be organized in cooperation with the Flanders Innovation Council. As we’re in varies markets we will try to create homogeneous groups. Sessions will concentrate on Medical, Dental & Macro facial Surgery , Tooling Solutions, Hybrid & lightweight Solutions, Art & Jeweler and one session dedicated to optical scanning and reverse engineering. Feel free to join these sessions and let us know your interest by sending a mail to info@melotte.be

Best in Class Award: at the end of each session we will choose the “Best in Class”! The winner will have the possibility to have a DDM design product produced by Melotte DDM team!

Aluminum Rapid Manufacturing combined with Optical Scanning proves the DDM concept

2009-03-10T11:57:00.008+01:00

Market Release: Although many customers are taking measures to overcome the current recession we’re still very active in developing front-end prototyping solutions. Customers are looking for savings and they decide to switch prototyping from conventional CAD/CAM oriented Milling programs towards DDM. We’re currently running substantial numbers of Aluminum DDM prototyping projects. In many cases the DDM part price does not exceed the programming cost for conventional prototyping. Some time ago we’ve decided to add optical scanning to our portfolio. Today we’re proud to announce the full integration of DDM with optical scanning (compare & dimensional checks) and Microtomography for mechanical property analysis. paris hilton

The picture above shows a picture of our optical scanning while interpreting a precise Rapid manufactured OEM Aluminum part. Part tolerances, after robot enhanced 5-axis milling, of +/- 5µm are optically scanned and compared in an automated way. Compared to the conventional prototyping costs have been reduced with about 26% and the production lead-time has dropped by over 80%.

Press Conference Melotte Direct Digital Manufacturing

2009-02-05T15:29:00.002+01:00

Press Conference Direct Digital Manufacturing@Melotte:

Melotte today organized a press conference at its headquarters to brief Belgian journalists on its pioneering role in the direct digital manufacturing of medical implants. Today, Melotte is the only company in the world capable of supplying the medical sector worldwide with ready-to-use implants in titanium, only 36 hours after providing a CT scan. E.g. data of a person in South-Africa undergoing heart surgery are sent via a CT scan from the local hospital to Zonhoven - only 36 hours later the new heart valves arrive at the local hospital. CEO Mario Fleurinck took the occasion to demonstrate Melotte’s unique competences in layered manufacturing, by commenting to the much interested press audience on the full process, from the online data delivery to modeling the patient’s unique implant in titanium, and to the digital production and final shipment of the implant to customers worldwide. The press conference (organized in collaboration with Voka Limburg, the local chamber of commerce) was a unique opportunity to show Melotte’s unique competences in the digital manufacturing of a.o. dental implants, skull plates or heart valves. Moreover, Melotte provided a glimpse of future applications that will undoubtedly change the known and current manufacturing technologies.

Blogcounter hits the Sky.

2009-01-09T13:04:00.004+01:00

Marketing information:Since we've launched our Blog "The World of Layered Manufacturing", only a few months ago we've succeeded in developping business all over the globe. Without major marketing expenses we've been able to generate numberous sales leads and pushed the market of RM in metals. Below you can find the blogcounter log by geographical region. Only the latest 50 hits are displayed!

Do not hesitate to contact us via http://www.melotte.be/

The proof of the pudding.....

2009-01-09T07:59:00.016+01:00

Even at 15°C below zero MElotte's DDM stays HOT!

We would like to wish you all the best for 2009! Keep up the good work and thanks for the great support! Since the Blog has been put live about 840 individual followers have shown interest in our developments!

Product & Process information: Our Direct Digital Manufacturing Department has been very active during the Christmas period. Early December we've installed the new laserspot and we're very excited with the results. The part accuracy and surface finish have improved without compromising on building speed. The wise combination of Layered Manufacturing and Advanced Finishing technologies have proved the concept.

For a customer in the medical market we produce large batches of DDM Titanium parts, grade 5, (picture left). In the past these were produced by lost-wax methods and advanced 5-axis milling. Today the free-form is made by DDM and we only finish the high precision connectors. Melotte agreed on a delivery time of 3 working days. Product prices have dropped by 65%.

The customer decided to review its complete supply chain and to transfer as many product as possible to DDM. The Product engineering department visits Melotte next week in order to organise a smooth transfer.
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We thank the customer for this fantastick opportunity!

Cost savings DDM far beyond expectations

2008-12-09T11:38:00.010+01:00

Customer Case Medical devices: The OEM medical systems manufacturing Market is a very challenging business environment. Melotte delivers since many years high precision assemblies to GE's corperate R&D Department. Miniaturazation & hybrid part geometries are commonly used in this field. As soon as a device gets in contact with human organism the quality parameters are getting more substantial. A few months ago Melotte has been asked to think about optimising different parts in a bloodpump device. Given the operational environment we had to think about reducing the number of different parts in the assembly and to miniaturize the entire system. All these interventions should finally lead to cost savings of at least 35%. Another topic was the centrifugal device optimisation, this device generates important vorticity and the existing assembly of curved channels had a major impact on the product price.

The picture (left) shows two of the parts that have been re-engineered and produced in aluminum (body) and 1.4404 (centrifuge). We're showing the rough built parts. After RM the parts are put on the high-precision milling center for finishing, the internal channels are pasta polished up to 0.15 Ra.

Economics: Fly to buy ratio reduced from 6/1 to 1.3/1, product cost reduced by almost 23%, assembly cost reduced by 40%. Yearly consumption estimated at 400/year. R&D, re-engineering and prototyping costs (NRC) are depreciated in 18 months.

Another good example of how RM can be used in costsaving programs and individual part manufacturing (DDM) reduces the impact on Global Warming. 80% saving is raw material & about 65% in energy consumption per assembly!

Melotte's DDM Solutions@Euromould 2008

2008-12-08T10:42:00.013+01:00

Melotte@Euromould 2008: Last week the World's largest exhibition on Moulding and advanced metal forming processes took place in Frankfurt (GERMANY). Though Melotte did not have an own dedicated booth stand, we're very delighted about the fact that many leading manufacturers (Hard &Software) showed examples of DDM parts made by Melotte. MTT, one of the leading DDM machine manufacturers even presented a newsletter entirely dedicated to Melotte's Direct Digital Manufacturing Solutions. Do not hesitate to ask for a copy of this exiting story via info@melotte.be or by calling our Support Office Desk: +32 11 53.99.40

We would like to thank all these companies for the free exposure and we look forward to continue working with them. We're very exited about the huge interest showed in our product solutions. During the exhibition we've entered into a cooperation on mass customization of high speed propellers for air jet applications. The first prototypes have shown the advantages of DDM, Time-To-Market went down to days instead of weeks.

We're very excited about an agreement for the implementation of new STL based modelling Software provided by an innovative RM Software Development Company.

We will analyse the possibilities of this new Software application and we hope to make substantial progress on support structure integration & design optimisation. MPP did confirm his full support on the machine interface optimisation.

Melotte will further analyse & implement advanced surface treatment processes in order to controle the complete value chain. End of this week we will be presenting a case on hybrid partdesign. Please do not hesitate to ask for detailed information.

Quick review Materials Day, Terhulpen Brussels

2008-10-27T08:08:00.006+01:00

Materials Day: About 150 industrial decision makers from all over Europe have met at Brussels to talk about innovations in Materials, Applications and Processes. During the plenary session, Melotte's General Manager (picture right) highlighted the importance of low carbon processes and the impact new processes have on the BREW Metrics. BREW stands for Business Resources Efficiency and Waste Management.

Melotte aims at being a Low Carbon Footprint Company.

During Melotte's presentation a large project has been explained into detail. Layered Manufacturing and advanced Magnesium Molding Technologies have been combined into a Lightweight Innovative Product Solution. This approach allows the production of very precise magnesium components by using injection molding technologies. The part accuracy (after injection and prior to finishing) is below 0.02 mm. Melotte's project approach results in weight saving up to 50% and generates a positive effect on the component price.

Do not hesitate to ask for a copy of Melotte's presentation at www.melotte.be or by phone +32 11 53.99.40
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Melotte will further continue to develop Near-To-Net-Shape Manufacturing Technologies.

At the Materials Day it became clear that the interest in NTNM of large industrial groups is getting more substantial and this will certainly speed-up Market Development. Melotte’s process R&D and advanced molding expertise will be of great benefit for all users in the NTNM Market. At the closing session, Alain Hubert, the founder of the Polar Foundation, presented the Zero Emission Research Station in Antarctica. The Princess Elisabeth Station is running completely on renewable energy.

Melotte develops technologies to prevent Global Warming and will further invest in order to save the environment! Economics, Business Processes and Environment, hand in hand!

Do not hesitate to ask for more information at info@Melotte.be

Lightweight device for Leading OEM'er

2008-10-22T09:52:00.006+02:00

Market Release: Laser welded tubes are commonly used in the market. A customer active in high-speed air jet applications asked for re-engineering an assembled part into a single part geometry by using Direct Digital Manufacturing in Titanium. Now we are grateful to our customer allowing us to present the case on the weblog.

The original process was highly influenced by the difficulties related to micro welding of thin-walled small tubes using Electron Beam Welding. The wall thickness is 0.2 mm (see picture).Besides the geometrical freedom another challenge was the surface finish of the parts as well as contact wear resistance.

In process the part swivels over an angle of 160° at 1500 sequences/minute. Through forward engineering and FEM analyses we came to an unique geometry. The part weight is about 2 gram and the TCO is reduced by 42%. At present 400 parts are made and since 6 months running in production.

Given the nature of Direct Manufacturing the customer decided to make the contact angle variable. This results in batch productions with freedom to change the part geometry upon the contact material. This part fits perfectly within the basic principles of mass customization

Thx Hildi!

Breaking news

2008-10-10T15:57:00.004+02:00

Today we managed to produce Titanium parts with very small internal channels. The channel diameter is 0.4 mm, and combines 3 difficult parts in one unique feature. Next monday we will come with pictures of the finished part and a transparant 3D model. This is perfect news to step into the weekend! This sunday the Melotte running team will be competing at "Dwars door Hasselt"! We cross our fingers! We're confident! Do not hesitate to comment on the different topics! We're happy to see our business growing and we greet our new co-workers in Bangalore (India). Hello to the University of Stavanger, our new customer in medical implants! We welcome Mr. Britsen, Melotte's Technology Interface Manager in the US. We thank our new interested blog readers! Do not hesitate to comment on our postings. We really apreciate the phone calls but insist to put your questions & answers on the blog! This will help all Layered Manufacturing users to move forward! Cheers! Mario

1.4404 (316L) Static Mixer

2008-10-02T10:02:00.003+02:00

Market Release: For a customer active in the Polymer Processing & Analysis Industry we’ve produced a Static Mixer out of 1.4404 (316L, Stainless Steel). The original OEM solution is an assembly of three main components; a cylindrical body, a gas sprayer device (two gases) and a freeform Helix. Combining these parts in one unique assembly creates a very innovative Static Mixer device with an enhanced operational window. The cylindrical shape can be replaced by a curved one and fitted into a free form assembly environment. In the outer shell we might add extra thermal and monitoring devices. Static mixers are mainly used in liquid, gas, powder and low liquid emulsion transport. We will now further develop free form mixers and add these to our product portfolio. Free from manufacturing allows us to step out the conventional paradigm by replacing the cylindrical helix by free form and/or rectangular shaped transport Helixes. Clockwise and counterclockwise devices can be merged into one without difficult reshaping. The Helix surface finish requirements are mirror polish, in the coming weeks we will inform you more about our developments in finishing technologies. Feel free to comment on this development!

718, Inconell Oil Drilling Head

2008-09-23T09:40:00.004+02:00

Market Release: For a customer active in the Oil & Gas industry we've produced a drilling head out of 718 Inconell super alloy. The part weight is about 3 kg and it took us many hours to have this part melted. After melting the part has been moved to our 5 axis milling machines for finishing. After finishing the part has been DLC coated, lapped and assembled. All other parts are made in a conventional way. The final assembly was send to the customer for testing purposes. A destructive analysis was made on the drilling head. The final outcome is positive, the tests have proved that the melted parts has identical material properties. RM allows us to adapt the drilling head geometry in relation to the drilling principles. The customer agreed to run a new batch with different geometries and to tests these again. The expertise built on this project will be used to further develop the Super Alloys Market, Inconell is widely spread into very demanding environments. We believe that miniaturisation of Inconell parts might become an interesting new business for Melotte's DDM solutions.

Melotte @ Sirris Materials Day

2008-09-18T13:54:00.005+02:00

Sirris, the collective centre of the Belgian technological industry organises on 23 October 2008 the 2nd Sirris Materials Day about innovative use of materials as a driver for a technological edge. At the Sirris Materials Day, Melotte’s General Manager Mario Fleurinck will give a presentation on moulding @ Melotte, vertically integrated near-to-net-shape manufacturing solutions. Magnesium moulding fits in perfectly with Melotte's product & process offer. Many of our customers are looking for advanced processes, either to reduce costs (competition with low-wage countries) or to offer something a bit different. During the presentation Mario Fleurinck will focus on a major process re-engineering project based on Magnesium Moulding. The project includes the transformation, reverse engineering and optimisation, of a lost-wax steel part into an advanced magnesium moulding solution. Check out more information on www.materialsday.be/

Micro Polymer Production Device

2008-09-12T14:54:00.012+02:00

Today we’ve produced a gas dispersion device in 1.2344 (H13) material, after melting we measured a hardness of 50 Hrc. The rendered image shows internal channels (catalyst dispersion) and an in-part filter. Although we’re very exited about the results we need to further investigate the shrinking coefficient. We believe that the next batch will be closer to the Near-To-Net-Shape. Next Monday the part will be shipped to our customer’s premises and assembled into the high pressure micro Polymer Production Plant. During the next trial the internal channels will be extrude honed in order to improve the flow of the catalyst material. This will allow us to deliver finished devices within 4 working days and the mirror and catalyst position might vary from batch to batch. The material is dense and easy to polish. The micro porosities on the surface are in line with commercially sourced 1.2344 raw material. We’re happy with the result and look forward to the WEEKEND! Cheers! Next week we start production of a free form device made out of Inconell! I’ll report on our finding next week.

Specialist rapporteert

2008-09-08T19:59:00.011+02:00

Al geruime tijd ben ik bezig met layered manufacturing. Het is onvoorstelbaar welke mogelijkheden er nu zijn door deze industriële mijlpaal. Met de SLM-technologie is alles mogelijk en het is schitterend hoe mooi en goed de onderdelen uit de machine komen. De onderdelen die ik tot op heden geproduceerd heb gaan van design naar dentale tot zeer complexe industriële onderdelen .

Ik was zeer blij om deze uitdaging aan te gaan en mijn enthousiasme wordt alsmaar groter zeker wanneer ik alle opportuniteiten zie die door direct digital manufacturing mogelijk zijn. Kortom :" The sky is the limit".

2008-09-08T15:02:00.005+02:00

Today, I took my first small steps in the world of layered manufacturing. One of the findings that emerge immidiate, are the possibilities for engineers to think out of the box, and give their ideas the edge to stand out and make a difference.

This is what we need in a competitive world.

Key-Note Speeches

2008-09-08T14:21:00.005+02:00

In the next few weeks Melotte will present its commercial offer in Direct Digital Manufacturing at (1), The Materialise Innovation Forum (Leuven) , (2) A seminar on Rapid Manufacturing at OCAS (Gent) and (3) the Sirris Materials Days at La Hulpe (Brussels). Key-note Speeches addressed by Mario Fleurinck on behalf of Melotte NV.

Layered Manufacturing, balance between scale and flexibility

2008-07-14T08:24:00.005+02:00

"The new industrial revolution will enable people to live where they like and produce what the need locally!"

The picture left shows a number of Titanium parts, built on our SLM machine and finished via Robot enhanced 5-axis milling. The Time-To-Market has been reduced from 8 weeks to 4 days and the internal channels, unique feature in layered manufacturing, enabled us to merge 3 parts into ONE! Feel free to join our Blog! We will focus on Layered Manufacturing in metals!