In the first part of this issue, GARPA member organizations report on funding mechanisms and incentives available to rapid prototyping initiatives in their region of the world. Important news, activities, breakthroughs and events associated with their group or association are shared in the second part. If you are interested in membership or in learning more about any of these 14 organisations, contact the appropriate individuals listed above.
Government Support for RP in Hong Kong
By Ian Gibson
Hong Kong Society for Rapid Prototyping, Tooling & Manufacturing
The Hong Kong government is generally well known for its laissez faire policies and simple taxation structure. In general, all companies are regarded the same way and subject to the same rules. This does not mean, however, that the Hong Kong government wouldn't like particular industries to be here, and there are some funding mechanisms to assist the development of new technologies. These mechanisms are administered through the Hong Kong Industry Department.
Industry Department funding can be obtained in the form of Industry Support Funding (ISF) or Applied Research Funding (ARF). ISF has been known to support RP technology transfer, most notably the Rapid Prototyping Centre set up by the Hong Kong Productivity Council in 1996. This Centre provides a range of facilities, built around two SLA machines, for industrial evaluation of RP technology. ISF funding also helped set up a centre at The University of Hong Kong to evaluate SLS RapidTools in a Hong Kong context.
For 1999-2000, ISF will focus on biotechnology, electronics, IT, metals, plastics, and textile & clothing industries. The focus on metals and plastics includes heavy emphasis on advanced mould making technologies, design processes, and CNC machining. Applications that lead to rapid tooling should therefore attract attention. But it should be emphasised that this is primarily for transfer of existing, state-of-the-art technology for productive use in Hong Kong and not for assistance in developing new technologies.
Companies which are incorporated in Hong Kong and which have substantial connection to Hong Kong are eligible to apply for ARF funding to turn new ideas into commercial prospects. Companies must have a significant proportion of their research, design, development, production, management or general business activities located in Hong Kong. The project concerned must have a technology or R&D element.
There are many sources of academic research funding in Hong Kong. The most important of these arecompetitive research grants obtained from the Research Grants Council (RGC). Funding is awarded purely on the basis of academic merit and has no strategic element. RGC does award strategic funding as well through Areas of Excellence. Universities also implement a strategic funding policy through block grant allocation. Whilst RP has not been overlooked in this process, there is no specific encouragement for research in this area.
News from Hong Kong Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Society
As most people are aware, there has been something of an economic downturn, originating out of Asia as a result of various events in the region. Compared with many countries in Asia, Hong Kong has managed to ride the storm. But even here many companies have gone out of business, unemployment rates are the highest they have been for many years, and manufacturing industry continues to suffer; losing ground in comparison with other sectors in contribution to GDP.
But Hong Kong is in many ways a gateway into Mainland China. China is certainly one reason why Hong Kong has not suffered as badly as other parts of Asia. Many Hong Kong companies have significant interest in China, often having manufacturing bases in the Mainland, controlled or gated through a Hong Kong head or regional offices.
So if we have any interest in Rapid Prototyping in Hong Kong, we cannot ignore China. As has been mentioned before, it is not easy to determine the exact number of RP machines in Hong Kong since it is possible the machines were purchased here and then used in Mainland China. The number of machines continues to rise and, surprisingly, the RP market still appears quite buoyant. Perhaps this is a result of the pressure OEMs are putting on supplier companies to have 3D CAD and RP in place before they can become preferred suppliers.
Anyway, realising that the future of RP in Hong Kong is inextricably linked to Mainland China, the Hong Kong Society for RPT&M has arranged its first big event, which will be in China. It is scheduled for 15-16th April and will be held at the South China University of Technology. The Society has been very careful to organise this event so as to promote RP without too much hype. Although the major RP vendors will be there, it is definitely a Society event and there will be plenty of opportunity for members and users to provide unbiased input on experience in use of the technology. The event will include tabletop exhibits and a factory tour. Attendees will be encouraged to bring along examples of their products and discuss them in terms of what RP technology will be suitable for their requirements.
One of the hopes and plans the Society has for the future of RP in Hong Kong relates to Rapid Tooling. Currently this is extremely underdeveloped in comparison with other RP user countries. It is hoped that other GARPA members can advise us on how to overcome the obstacle of introducing this feature of RP technology to industry.
Governmental support for Rapid Prototyping R&D in Sweden
By Brent Holmer
IVF
Generally, most of the support for academic research is channelled through either the regular technical university system or through a couple of Research foundations. None of these has put any money into RP, which means that the academic research in the field is almost non-existent.
Still, rapid prototyping is a favoured area for governmental support, but on a very small scale. Compared to fields like microelectronics and biotechnology, manufacturing technology in general has received a small part of the total support for R&D. As part of modern manufacturing, RP has aroused enough interest to be able to snatch some support for industrial development from the ”NUTEK” governmental authority (the name NUTEK is composed of the initials of a dull official name but is pronounced NewTech). The main role of NUTEK is to stimulate technical development in small and medium-sized enterprises - the big companies are supposed to and do manage on their own.
NUTEK has supported RP projects since 1992 on the total level of 4 - 800 k$ per year. The main part has been industrial projects run by IVF in co-operation with a group of companies with the aim of developing RP methodology. These projects are required to be financed at least half by industry, which means that the figure above is at least doubled. An example of such a project is to develop efficient methods for manufacture of die cast moulds based mainly on existing technology. Another example is support in the early development stages of a new RP process based on plasma welding, being developed by an innovation company and which may be commercialised soon. NUTEK has also for several years supported the networking activities of IVF resulting in the Swedish Industrial Network on FFF.
Some participation in international projects is also taking place. Presently Swedish companies and IVF are active in three development projects and one thematic network financed by the European Community. One of these development projects is actually part of the global Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) initiative
Obstacles to RP in Italy
By Gabriella Marinsek
Italian Rapid Prototyping Association
Italy is historically one of the most active countries worldwide in pattern and mold fabrication. Except for some large companies, where dies of large dimensions and importance are produced, thousands of small/medium enterprises cover the whole national territory with a higher concentration in North Italy. They form a capillary network that is able to react promptly at any request with high quality standards, short delivery time and good prices due to their flexible organization and skill.
The interest of these Italian companies in RP was high since the first industrial introduction of the technologies (namely around 1990). However, some factors are the limitation of achievable material properties, the low accuracy, especially for large objects, the cost of the RP systems and the lack of a national efficient maintenance/distribution organization. These factors have prevented new investments in RP.
Still, the improvements related to RP processes and materials make the RP techniques attractive at least as an integration to the conventional manufacturing. In fact, the most successful companies, in terms of quality of prototypes produced and revenue, are those that have proven experience in patterns/dies and conventional machining capabilities. Following this trend, it is expected that RP will have a constant growth in the field of rapid tooling.
News from the Italian Rapid Prototyping Association
The Italian Association of Rapid Prototyping, APRI, focuses its activities in the diffusion of rapid prototyping know-how. This year, APRI had a booth in four main exhibitions in Italy, including the CAD/CAM Show organized by Publitec in March, Model Form Metal Form organized by Expo 2000, Eurostampi organized by Tecniche Nuove & UCISAP in April, and BIMU (Biannual Machine-tool Show) in October. Daily in each booth, there were presentations given by APRI partners representing RP producers, service bureaus, industrial users, and academia.
APRI will continue to participate in exhibitions, as well as concentrate on workshops dealing with specific RP themes. It also plans to enhance its website http://www.apri-rapid.it/ .
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