Development and Mold Construction Company for Prototype- and Small-Volume Production participates for the first time at AIRTEC Fair, Frankfurt

Protoform K. Hofmann GmbH, D 90766 Fuerth, a product development company, prototype producer and production company for plastics and hybrid plastics components exhibits for the first time at the AIRTEC International Aerospace Supply Fair, Frankfurt/Main, 17th to 20th October 2006. Trade Press and visitors are very welcome at Hall 8, Stand G 95.

Protoform K. Hofmann GmbH, Fuerth, a development and production company with a staff of 100 in development and design, mold construction and plastics injection molding, supplies prototypes and series of ready-to-fit original components in marketable and market-conforming quantities of up to 5,000 parts.

The company develops and produces plastics components and assembly groups as prototypes and in small quantities, in the same material as in mass production in „Made in Germany“ quality based on the patented “Space Puzzle Molding" technique.

Due to its network of partners, the development company Protoform K. Hofmann GmbH is able to offer a complete process chain with services ranging from product ideas over CAD design and prototype production to ready-to-fit and marketable small batches, mold construction and series production for plastics and hybrid plastics parts.

In Europe, exclusively Protoform K. Hofmann GmbH offers the Space Puzzle Molding (SPM) process for faster product development. The Space Puzzle Molding (SPM) process is a combined rapid tooling (RT) and rapid prototyping (RPT) technique which owing to optimised CAD design is able offer simplified aluminium molds at a favourable price extremely fast. Consequently, prototype series and small batches of plastics components up to several thousand pieces can be produced in original plastics material at short notice, in mass-produced component quality, within the framework of semi-automatic individual production on normal injection molding machines.

The Space Puzzle Molding (SPM) process enables the production of reasonably priced testing series and pre-series of series-identical plastics parts made of original material and marketable small batches in quantities of several thousand units for first-off series production. The produced parts can be used for testing and marketing purposes and integrated into and used for first-off series production.

With the SPM technique and its in-house mold construction, Protoform K. Hofmann GmbH can cover the whole plastics product development process chain from development and design, prototype series and small batch production of components with series-identical material and in mass-produced quality in units of up to 5,000 pieces in all areas of industry. The Space Puzzle Molding (SPM) process is primarily used in automotive, above all by reputable European automobile manufacturers and their suppliers. Leading automobile manufacturers recommend using the SPM process for product development and first-off series production.

Further press material:
At request, various practical technical reports with photos and illustration are available for the trade press, editors and trade journalists in Word format/JPEG, 300 dpi, for press and publication purposes.

A technical SPM process documentation is available as a PDF file (in German, English and French) and sent by e-mail. Furthermore an technical documentation "Small-volume production with the Space Puzzle Molding (SPM) Process” which contains a description of six (6) development projects with subsequent small-volume production (PDF file, sent by e-mail).

Various practical reports (4 pages, German, English) are available in special print edition, also in PDF file format and by e-mail. In these reports, the SPM process is described in general as well as in practical use, i. a. in automotive and medical engineering industries.

Protoform® K. Hofmann GmbH, D 90766 Fuerth/Bavaria:

Protoform K. Hofmann GmbH, a Bavaria-based company that employs a staff of approx. 100, has been active in the field of CAD design, CAM programming, tool and mold construction and plastics injection molding based on the patented Space Puzzle Molding (SPM) process for many years. Protoform specialises exclusively in the SPM process and has optimised the technique, launched more than twenty (20) years ago, to its current efficient state.

Protoform has gathered experience with mold and prototype production, based on a 30-year mold making tradition, and uses the patented Space Puzzle Molding® (SPM) process invented by Konrad Hofmann for manufacturing in Fuerth/Bavaria on a total production and manufacturing floor space of 2,800 square meters.

The company has a customised machine pool for mold manufacture, high-speed processing production techniques, CAD design and organisation as well as injection-molding component production designed for SPM. Protoform's mold building focuses exclusively on the production of SPM molds: The customised machine pool enables factory-like, rapid production throughput of SPM molds with up to 50 percent shorter time-to-market than conventional molds. A state-of-the-art machine pool is used for highly automated production.

The Space Puzzle Molding (SPM) process has been used successfully for more than twenty (20) years. It delivers plastic and projects for hybrid plastic components made of original material in mass-produced quality. More than 8,000 plastic components, plastic products and complete assembly groups have been handled so far and produced in small batches of up to 3,000 marketable components. Normally, quantities of up to 5,000 units with a shot weight of up to 2,200 grams can be achieved with the SPM process.

From a technical point of view, the SPM process enables all conventional production techniques like gas assist molding, multi-component injection molding, insert and outsert technique and in-mold decoration (IMD). The process can be used to produce whole cockpit assembly groups and individual components with the maximum dimensions 400 x 600 x 800 millimetres.

The company’s main customers are development departments in the automotive and commercial vehicle industry, their suppliers, departments in the electrical engineering and electronics, equipment industry, general apparatus construction and medical engineering.

With the SPM technique and its in-house mold construction, Protoform® K. Hofmann GmbH can cover the whole plastics product development process chain from development and design, prototype series and small batch production of components with series-identical material and in mass-produced quality in units of up to 5,000 pieces in all areas of industry. Leading automobile manufacturers recommend using the SPM process for product development and first-off series production. Protoform has been certified by the automotive industry association VDA, according to quality standards VDA 6.4 and DIN EN ISO 9001.

Protoform has a network of competent, selected and efficient specialist partners and mold makers with injection molders for subsequently moving up from prototype and small-volume production to large-volume production.

Protoform K. Hofmann GmbH
Siemensstrasse 45
90766 Fuerth / Germany
Tel.: 0049 911 7599-0
Fax: 0049 911 7599-100
Internet: www.protoform.com
E-mail: info@protoform.com

Press Contact:
Wolfgang G. Trapp
Pressebüro
Postfach 65 00 73
D 81214 Munich
Telefon: (089) 811-7414
eMail: trappresse@aol.com

This release was published on openPR.