First in Series of 'Manufacturing Centers of Excellence' in Far East Adopts FreeForm Modeling
WOBURN, Mass.--Sept. 17, 2001--SensAble Technologies announced today that it has established its first in a series of "Manufacturing Centers of Excellence" in the Far East, reaching agreement with Hermon Industries, a toy designer and manufacturer with design offices in Hong Kong and manufacturing facilities in Guandong, China. The new center will be the first in a series of industry-specific manufacturing centers that use FreeForm modeling as the key tool in supporting a totally digital process, from design to tooling and mold making.
It is now possible to use the FreeForm modeling system to design and create models with a level of sculptural detail well beyond the practical capabilities of traditional computer modeling tools. Further, these models can now be developed anywhere in the world and delivered electronically to tooling and production facilities in the Far East that, like Hermon, are equipped with FreeForm systems. The production facilities will no longer have to remodel physical prototypes, a process that wastes time and reduces design detail. Rather, they can the use digital model to make any required changes and iterate with the original designer in minutes rather than days. The exact product the designer intended can then be produced using digital mold-making tools.
The reduction in time to market made possible by this totally digital workflow has proven to be enormous in design-centric industries. For example, designing with the FreeForm modeling system has streamlined design and development cycles from weeks to as many days, a time reduction of up to 80 percent.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hermon Industries will commit to accepting FreeForm files as its standard protocol, mill STL files for production tooling and offer their customers rapid prototyping and mold creation services. For its part, SensAble will continue to support broader design markets with software that can take advantage of the enormous time savings made possible with this new design to development process.
"Hermon Industries is the first Asian tooling company to embrace the toy and premium promotion industries with a state-of-the-art design to manufacturing process," says Tom Ellery, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations for SensAble Technologies. "By providing their designers and sculptors with the FreeForm modeling system, Hermon can allow the world's OEMs to have 24-hour access to their designs before committing to final tooling, thus realizing a true electronic process.
Alex Lau, President and Managing Director of Hermon Industries, values what a digital workflow based on the FreeForm modeling system can deliver. "We recognized the benefits of a totally digital process back in 2000," he says, "and we quickly saw the significance of adopting FreeForm modeling as a key application for our digital process. It is our critical tool for saving time and preserving the quality of designs."
With a major innovator in the Far East toy manufacturing toy industry fully sold on the benefits of FreeForm modeling as the digital backbone for tooling and mold development, look for additional SensAble manufacturing centers of excellence that service other vertical industries such as footwear and giftware to be announced in the near future.
About FreeForm Modeling
SensAble's FreeForm modeling system provides an analog interface to a digital tool, a revolutionary combination for product design. FreeForm tools use familiar physical metaphors such as sculpting, wire cutting, shaping and deforming. These work in a direct and obvious manner to deliver the flexibility and expressiveness of physical media like the clay and blue foam designers have loved for years. Controlling these tools through touch gives users an unprecedented connection to their model. The flow of design intent--no longer choked off at the user/computer interface--allows users to faithfully capture any nuances and difficult to describe subtleties in digital form. Sophisticated modeling techniques help designers to hold design criteria and optimize form with function, while direct model interaction and familiar methods help eliminate the months-long learning curve typically needed to master traditional 3-D modeling software.
About SensAble Technologies
SensAble Technologies is transforming the way people use computers in the 21st century. Our groundbreaking technology allows you to fully interact with your computer via your sense of touch. Two dimensions--sight and sound--become three, sight, sound and now touch. And that gives you the freedom to work in a more natural, intuitive way. SensAble and its products have won more than a dozen awards and have been featured in publications worldwide, including The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Fortune. FreeForm modeling, SensAble's first end-user application, was given the first ever Grand Innovation Award from Computer Graphics World. The company has over 500 customers in 30 countries, including adidas-Salomon, Boeing, Disney, Ford, General Electric, Honda, Hasbro, Motorola and leading universities worldwide. For more information, visit www.sensable.com.
SensAble, PHANTOM and FreeForm are trademarks or registered trademarks of SensAble Technologies, Inc. All other companies and products referenced herein have trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
SensAble Technologies, Inc., 15 Constitution Way, Woburn, MA 01801. Tel: 781-937-8315, Fax: 781-937-8325, Web: www.sensable.com, Email: info@sensable.com.