The Digital Thread

We launched our company and its digital manufacturing model more than 20 years ago, and a necessary constant throughout those past two decades in the industry has been change. You simply cannot survive as a technology-forward manufacturing company that is complacent with where it is as at—you have to be future-facing.

When we launched more than 20 years ago, our digital manufacturing model was revolutionary. But it’s been necessary to continuously evolve ever since – by expanding our manufacturing services and enhancing our capabilities way beyond the original prototyping service. Many of the customers we serve have grown along with us, so expectation is being continuously elevated.

Our brand new online quoting platform is not the only exciting launch from Protolabs recently. We are also now offering on-demand manufacturing (ODM) as well as prototyping. This means that we can now support you further through your product life-cycle journey.

In this particular article we’ll take a look at the new platform for when uploading parts for injection moulding – Protolabs’ world-leading service for rapid prototypes and end-use production parts.

In this particular article we’ll take a look at the new platform for when uploading parts for CNC machining – Protolabs’ world-leading service for rapid prototypes and end-use production parts.

In this particular article we’ll take a look at the new platform for when uploading parts for 3D printing – Protolabs’ world-leading service for rapid prototypes and functional parts.

An overview of thermoplastics with flame-retardant characteristics and the UL 94 classification.

With product development and manufacturing lead times constantly shortening, what can design engineers do to reduce the time and cost involved with making a mould tool?

Designing for plastic injection moulding is like raising teenagers—some parts (and some teens) are more challenging than others. But by following a few simple rules, even the most difficult of these challenges can be overcome (parenting aside).

Most parts can be built in normal resolution, but for parts with fine features around 0.1mm, high resolution may be required.

There's more than one way to validate and test your design. This post examines the benefits of various prototypes and when each is most appropriate.

Using aluminium tooling you can bridge that production gap and make sure that your design is spot on before committing to mass production. It still pays to get the design right so here are our top tips.