Proto Labs awarded for innovation initiatives

MAPLE PLAIN, Minn.—Proto Labs Inc. recently won the Frost & Sullivan's 2015 Manufacturing Leadership Award for innovation in process leadership.

The award, which is in its 11th year, honors manufacturing companies and individual manufacturing leaders that are shaping the future of global manufacturing.

Frost & Sullivan's Manufacturing Leadership Council is responsible for selecting winners of the annual award, Proto Labs said, and recognized the company in the Innovation Process Leadership category for its “Cool Idea!” award program.

The Cool Idea! Award began in 2011, and was created to help bring innovative product ideas to life, said Vicki Holt, Proto Labs' president and CEO.

“Many great ideas don't get off the ground due to lack of resources and funding, and we saw an opportunity to help solve that problem by providing our additive manufacturing, CNC machining and injection molding services free of charge.”

Additionally, the award provides winners with publicity through Proto Labs' media outreach and gallery events.

Proto Labs' said its Cool Idea! award program provides gratis prototyping and short-run production services to entrepreneurs bringing inventive new product ideas to life.

“Recipients of the award are thrilled to receive it. Not only does it provide them with production-quality parts to bring their product to fruition, but it provides them with exposure. Even if an applicant is not chosen, there is still value in applying,” Holt said.

“All applicants receive scores from our respected group of judges' review, as well as written feedback, which can be largely beneficial to improving a product.”

Proto Labs has made an effort over the past year to continue to innovate by adding capabilities, she said, like same-day shipment on machined parts, new processes like metal injection molding and liquid silicone rubber molding, and a third flagship service with additive manufacturing.

“It all equates to faster and more diverse parts that allow our customers to get products to market sooner,” Holt said.

Proto Labs added the capability of optical-grade liquid silicone rubber because high-performance optical LSR is transparent, extremely flexible and starting to replace glass in many optical applications.

“One of the more exciting aspects that optical silicone presents to a designer is its ability to reduce the bill of materials in a final assembly,” Jeff Schipper, Proto Labs' product manager for LSR, said in a statement.

“In a lighting application, for example, you have a lens and seal that would traditionally be two parts. With optical LSR, you can combine the two into a single part, which reduces cost and overall inventory.”

The engineering-grade thermoset offers a host of benefits for those developing components and products inside the lighting industry, Proto Labs said. Optical LSR does not discolor or lose transparency with age or with exposure to heat or UV light; it is significantly lighter than glass and most other plastics; and it is scratch and crack resistant, among other advantages.

“We are continuously collecting information from our customers about additional materials, envelop expansions and manufacturing processes they would like to see added to our suite of services,” Holt said.

The low-alloy steel to metal injection molding and optical liquid silicone rubber “were high on our customers' wish list.”

She said that while it is a bit early to gauge a full response from customers, quoting activity is high and sales are matching what the company would expect from a new material launch.

Besides these new capabilities, Proto Labs also is continuing its launch of lathe-turned parts.

Proto Labs completed the introduction of lathe-turned parts in North America in late first quarter, Holt said, and is on track for Europe in the second quarter. Additionally, the company will be launching lathe-turned parts in Japan in the second half.

“We are also introducing additive manufacturing in Europe in the second half of 2015,” she said. “We have a robust pipeline of other envelop expansions and new processes, which we will discuss as they progress through our R&D process.”