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OPTOFORM LLC ESTABLISHED TO PURSUE ADVANCED DIGITAL MANUFACTURING OPPORTUNITIES
19 March 2002 - DSM Somos
| 3D Systems Corp., a world leader in solid imaging equipment, and DSM Somos, leading material innovator for the rapid prototyping industry, today announced the official launch of a new company to pursue opportunities in the new and expanding field of Advanced Digital Manufacturing(SM) (ADM), as conceived by 3D Systems. |
ADM is expected to become a key enabling technology for the customization of design and manufacturing, also called mass customization. OptoForm LLC, headquartered in Valencia (California, USA) will deliver shop-floor manufacturing solutions to the industrial market based on composite plastic, ceramic and metal materials using a proprietary Direct Composites Manufacturing process. 'Advanced Digital Manufacturing will allow designers to reduce part count in the design process thus reducing part costs and assembly time. Designers and engineers will be able to add custom features and complexity to designs not currently feasible with today's manufacturing techniques,'' said Grant Flaharty, executive vice president, global business operations for 3D Systems. 'The ability to manufacture a product using additive fabrication techniques will radically alter designs and manufacturing methods over the next decade and beyond,'' said Mervyn Rudgley, general manager of OptoForm LLC. 'Using ADM techniques such as Direct Composite Manufacturing and other 3D Systems technologies, existing designs can be manufactured without the costs and lead-time associated with hard tooling, and more complex designs will become easier to manufacture.' 'We are pleased that we have the combined resources of 3D Systems and DSM Somos®, as we begin our development program with selected Fortune 100 industrial partners,'' added Rudgley. Steve Hartig, vice president of marketing at DSM Somos®, said, 'Over the next year we expect to develop and test new materials that will set new standards for structural performance and capability in digital manufacturing.''
http://www.dsmsomos.com
About: DSM Somos
DSM Somos is an unincorporated division of DSM Desotech—a world leader in the development of UV-curable materials—and a member of the global DSM family.
DSM Somos is currently the world's second largest materials supplier to the rapid prototyping industry, providing stereolithography liquids and
selective laser sintering powders used for the creation of three dimensional models and prototypes directly from digital data. Somos' patented ProtoFunctional materials are used by a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, medical and telecommunications. DSM Somos has developed a full line of rapid prototyping materials that replicate the performance parameters of production materials, saving both time and money in new product development. From thermoplastic elastomers to polyethylene and polypropylene, DSM Somos has stereolithography and selective laser sintering technologies. The Somos business has been actively involved in the development of rapid prototyping materials since the late 1980s, from the introduction of the first commercial Somos stereolithography resin in 1992. DSM Somos is part of DSM Desotech, a leading innovative formulator and manufacturer of high quality ultraviolet and electron beam (UV/EB) curable materials. DSM Desotech is a business unit of DSM - an international chemicals and materials group headquartered in The Netherlands, with annual sales of EUR 8.1 billion and a work force of approximately 22,000 employees at more than 200 sites worldwide. DSM is active worldwide in life science and nutritional products, performance materials and industrial chemicals. The company specializes in innovative products and services that help improve the quality of life and DSM products are currently used in a wide range of end markets and applications such as human and animal nutrition and health, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, automotive and transport, coatings, housing and electrics & electronics (E&E). The group has annual sales (pro forma including the recent acquisition - renamed DSM Nutritional Products) of approximately EUR 8 billion and employs about 26,000 people around the world. Ranking among the global leaders in many of its fields, DSM is headquartered in the Netherlands, with locations in Europe, Asia and the Americas. |
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