This Midest show in Paris made me discover a company that organized itself to be the “Amazon” of subcontracting: proto labs. I.e. everything has been set up to allow customers to order quickly and efficiently on-line and everything has also been organized to make production follow at high pace. Offered services are CNC prototype machining (from 1 to 10 parts) and prototype injection molding (10 to 10’000 parts).
Proto labs factory in the UK: A huge production capacity!
One production plant equipped with outstanding computing and machining capabilities has been organized on each continent. When a customer feed the system to have a quotation, the part is fully computed and when he receives the quotation (normally a few hours later), everything has already been analyzed and prepared. I.e. if the customer orders the parts, production can starts directly, there is no loss of time, no question, no trouble. Everything is already prepared.
A transparent system If the part cannot exactly be produced according specifications, the system shows the customer where troubles are and what could be suggested as changes to have the part machined or injected. Mr. Faure, technical sales manager in France says: “If we cannot do the parts, it is instantly clear for our customers, we don’t do any promises that we can’t keep. Nevertheless, what we cannot do today will maybe made available in the future. We analyze all the demands we receive and we make our capacities evolve accordingly”.
Real parts, really fast You load your 3d files in the system and half of the job is already done! You can order your parts exactly like on Amazon, simply and directly but if you prefer to have a human contact, proto labs also have specialists at your disposal to answer your questions or help you to enter this new way to subcontract. Once accustomed to the speed and quality of the service, it’s very difficult to work another way.
Two services available First cut – CNC machining, see http://www.firstcut.eu/ Protomold – Injection molding, see http://www.protomold.fr/
They said the other day at Midest 40th anniversary that subcontracting needs innovation to survive… proto labs presents a true innovation to the service of the industry… will you try them?
For more information Proto labs Bernard Faure Savoie-Technolac 18 Allée du Lac St. André 73382 Le Bourget du Lac Cédex France Phone +33 (0) 479 65 46 50 Fax +33 (0) 479 65 46 51
