Hello Pedro, friends from Spain and rp-ml:
As Pedro discussed, I had the privelege of visiting Spain and working with
several companies to implement Rapid Product Development strategies. Per
his request, here are several of my observations:
1) First of all, I found Spain to have a talented group of young
professionals (such as Pedro and my friends at CTL). All are very well
educated, possess a good understanding of applying technology to product
development, and lastly (and most importantly) an eagerness to apply their
knowledge. Applicable anywhere in the world, it is important to have a
group of people eager to apply new ideas and technology - this is how change
will occur.
2) The research facilities (such as where Pedro works) are as good as any
I've seen here in the U.S. Don't count Spain out when it comes to discovery
of and the application of new technology. Additionally, I could see
companies (from the U.S. and elsewhere) easily accessing these research
facilities and receiving a very high value for the services performed.
3) Along these same lines, a company called CTL is doing some very
interesting research on laser sintering of metal for the purposes of
repairing production tools. Their method is to utilize a diode based laser
(yes- DIODE based) to sinter a "spray" of powdered metal. The rate of
deposition is very highly controlled so that the resulting "bead" is exact.
The goal is to repair the mold with such an exact bead of metal such that
only hand finishing is required after the process is complete - no need for
any CNC machining.
4) Many of the production plants I visited were highly automated. I guess
this surprised me somewhat - although I didn't know exactly what to expect.
Therefore, the application and integration of some technology has been well
executed.
5) Make no mistake - the companies and people of Spain are eager to compete
in this world-wide market. As our world gets smaller and smaller expect
good things from this region of the globe.
6) Another very important and compelling reason to do business in Spain -
the food and wine are of the best in the world!!
I found it very interesting to visit Spain. From a technology standpoint, I
believe it is important to discover how the WORLD is applying Rapid Product
Development techniques, not just the U.S. Things like this rp-ml forum are
helping to accomplish what I feel is the most powerful aspect about rapid
prototyping - that is COMMUNICATION.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Fox
Rapid Design Technologies.
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