Blogcounter hits the Sky.

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.....

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

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.

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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.

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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

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.

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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

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.

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Melotte aims at being a Low Carbon Footprint Company.

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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.

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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

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

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

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!