CMM Manufacturers

Association of CMM Manufacturers
Celebrates Its First Anniversary

Founded in late 2001 to promote coordinate measuring machine business and technology, the International Association of Coordinate Measuring Machine Manufacturers — better known as CMM 
Manufacturers — will soon be celebrating its first anniversary.

This international, non-profit organization undertakes such initiatives as the development of human skills through education and training, and the promotion and implementation of common standards for hardware and interface software. For example, to help engineers and managers stay up to speed with evolving measurement technology, IA.CMM supports an ongoing forum for the exchange of experience between CMM users and CMM manufacturers. this machine is meaureing the dimensions for molds and die, for examples plastic mold or plastic molding parts

Members of IA.CMM are Brown & Sharpe DEA, Carl Zeiss, ITP, Johansson, Mahr, Mitutoyo, Mora, OKM, Trimek, Wenzel, Werth, and Zett Mess.

New Integrated Resin Selector
Software Tool Is Updated Frequently

Prospector Pro by IDES is a tool to help in the selection of resins. The program integrates with resin manufacturers’ and distributors’ material selector tools and websites. It allows efficient access to a database of 40,000 plastic material datasheets from 390 global suppliers.

The program includes design data, multipoint data, comprehensive datasheets directly from suppliers and sourcing information.

New features include:

• Exporting of design data to HTML text or MS Excel files
• Sample ordering via General Polymers
• Resin purchasing via GE Polymerland
• Request product quotes from manufacturers and/or distributors

Improved features include complementary material support. If users are unable to find a plastic datasheet, they can contact IDES and it will track down the datasheet within 24 hours.  

An i-Manage Suite™ data entry tool allows manufacturers to import their data directly into the IDES plastic materials database which is updated to Prospector Pro every two weeks.

Materialise Process Builds
Impressive Replica Statue

An impressive statue stands in the hall of the Materialiseheadquarters in Leuven, Belgium. It’s a six-foot-tall reproduction of an ancient Greek kouros, a type of life-size sculpture that marked graves or stood near temples as gifts dedicated to the gods during the Archaic era, from about 650 to 500 BC.

The manufacturer of the statue was part of an ECO project, which involved GEO-Analysis, responsible for scanning sculptures; the Focke Museum in Bremen, Germany; the Fitzwilliam Museum of Archeology in Cambridge, UK; the Archaeological Receipts Fund in Athens; and Materialise.

The goal for Materialise was to make a life-size replica of a kouros. After preparing the scanned data in a day, Materialise built the statue on its Mammoth II stereolithography machine, which has a build area of 2,150 x 620 x 500 mm.

The statue was built with a layer thickness of 0.15 mm. Production took just under 100 hours. The replica has a wall thickness of 5 mm and weighs about 11 kg.

Upcoming NPE 2003 Expected
To Be Truly International Event

We’re less than nine months away from the triennial NPE, and the Washington-based Society of the Plastics Industry is expecting the largest international participation in the show’s history. Show dates are June 23-27, 2003. The year 2000 show set three NPE records: number of exhibiting companies (2,014), net exhibit space (1,142,900 ft²/106,179m²), and number of registered participants (90,142).

By logging on to www.npe.org, visitors can preregister for the show, identify exhibiting companies by product categories and access their websites via links. By late fall, visitors will be able to use the site to select, confirm and pay deposits on hotels.

The site also provides a secure “personal planner,” that preregistered visitors can use to organize their time at NPE 2003. Basic information on the show is available in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Links to the city of Chicago websites provide information on dining, recreation and entertainment.

Until December, the cost of registering for NPE is (US) $25.00 and $50.00 thereafter. On-site registration is $75.00.

An International Center at NPE will offer multilingual staff, U.S. Dept. of Commerce trade experts to help visitors make valuable contacts with American firms. Separate meeting areas will be available for delegations from specific countries.