At Catalyst, we consider Mechanical Design to be another creative process.  Once a concept or direction is selected, our engineers push the design even further—resulting in products that are more innovative and revolutionary.   The mechanical design group studies the way a product will be used and the ideal design for manufacturing.  Through a series of virtual prototypes and simulations, designers can accurately predict problems and discover enhancements at an early stage, when changes are still fast and inexpensive.

DEMONSTRATE
Demonstration not only provides design verification, but further solidifies the concept and confirms that the design intent has been achieved.  Successful Demonstration will show that the product not only perform in terms of form, fit, and  function, but will also be marketable, manufacturable, and serviceable.   Demonstration will also allow for debugging any issues and optimizing the design.

Demonstration and design verification can be as simple as sculpted clay and foam models or as detailed as a high level, non-linear finite element analysis.  Prototyping is a critical step in development and is a must before moving into marketing and manufacturing.  Today’s technology offers a multitude of prototyping avenues depending on the need.  Stereolithography (SLA/SLS), RTV Castings, CNC Models, and Rapid Tooling can be used separately or together.   While all of these processes are viable, when it comes to plastic component testing from a form, fit, and functional standpoint, Rapid Tooling will usually out-perform the others.  For example, while SLA/SLS parts might allow for dimensionally correct part to be produced from a 3D database, these parts are usually brittle and best used for form and fit testing only.  RTV/Urethane castings are more robust than SLA/SLS, but this process first requires that an SLA/SLS be made to cast a tool and then will only produce a limited number of parts.  CNC prototypes are perfect when truly robust parts are needed in a specific plastic or metal, but they may not perfectly mirror the part characteristics of an as-molded part.  

Historically, expensive, long-lead time tooling was required to get actual plastic parts and often times production tooling was kicked off with a “leap of faith” that the parts would function and few mold changes would be needed.  Catalyst recognized years ago that to truly offer production ready prototypes on a timely, cost effective basis a rapid process was needed.  Catalyst’s proprietary rapid tooling process, STAT (Sample Time Acceleration Technology), has been used by numerous clients in a wide cross section of industry to create actual plastic prototype parts and marketing samples.  This technique is especially effective for fit, finish and function testing as it uses the actual plastic material of which the final product will be manufactured.  STAT parts will look, feel and act very nearly like a production part. 

DUPLICATE
Duplication involves the product’s ability to be cost-effectively reproduced such that it still falls within the original design scope.  Often, Duplication requires the generation of tooling and fixturing to be used in production of plastic components or for the entire product.  To further accelerate the product development process, Catalyst has developed two proprietary duplication processes to help customers take their products to market in record time:

STAT, mentioned above as a possible prototyping option, allows molded parts in the material of choice to be delivered in a matter of days rather than weeks or months.  STAT can be used for as few as 10 parts or for many thousands.  It is a cost-effective method for design validation and the production of sample parts.  It has also been used for products that do not have high production requirements.

SPRInT (Short-run Production Rapid Insert Tooling) is a hybrid of both rapid and traditional tooling technologies.  QC7 Aircraft-grade aluminum is used to create an “insert” which is then placed in a custom base.  This system allows for rapid production of tooling that is capable of manufacturing up to 50,000 parts (depending on complexity and size) per year. 

DISTRIBUTE

During the product development stage, sales are zero and profits are negative because the anticipated future profits are being invested in product development. The longer it takes to develop the product and begin production and distribution, the lower the profits will be over the lifetime of the product.  Rapid manufacturing and Distribution can further reduce the product development time by maintaining momentum into production--even for a short period of time while high volume production is being ramped up. By building production parts while high volume production is coming on line, time to market can be further reduced. This equates to earlier potential profit and market share. 

As a final step in the product development process, Catalyst offers short run injection molding and assembly.  In addition, based on required volume, this type of short run production may even meet entire production needs.