Swiss cable system manufacturer Fortatech AG is now able to offer its customers a rapid response to prototype and development parts required on short lead-times thanks to the services of Proto Labs®.
Based at St Gallen in the northeast of Switzerland, the history of Fortatech (part of the Brugg Group) can be traced back to 1878 when the company started as a rope manufacturer. Today, Fortatech employs around 2,000 people worldwide who help supply cable systems to customers in the automotive, machine building, aerospace, medical and scientific sectors. Of course, staying ahead of the competition means keeping on top of market trends, and one of the most notable in recent years is reflected by notable rise in the demand for short lead-time items.
“Some of our customers now require bespoke parts within 14 days of enquiry,” says Thomas Englert, general manager at Fortatech. “However, thanks to the help of Proto Labs, they will find the solution here.”
With this statement in mind, Mr. Englert is keen to portray Fortatech as far more than a pure manufacturer, despite the fact it can produce up to 200,000 units of certain cables.
“Our whole strength is about benefiting the customer with our development and support, using our experience to engineer the right solution, which of course we can also manufacture in volume,” he says. “Our customers demand short lead-times, an extremely high degree of flexibility and yet uncompromising quality. Therefore we need suppliers who are able to offer this level of excellence,” says Mr. Englert.
A recent example involves the development of special spring housing which biases a cable. The spring had to be surrounded by a pair of half-shells that allowed the mechanism to slide within the roof of a convertible sports car. In the short term, the customer required the delivery of 100 parts.
“I immediately thought of Proto Labs,” recalls Zarko Andjelkovic, the project manager within the engineering department at Fortatech. “Importantly, we had to produce the parts from real production materials. There wasn’t an option to make rapid prototypes using substitute materials as these have no validity under real operating conditions. Fortunately, the level of co-operation we received from Proto Labs was excellent.”
Fortatech’s original idea was to connect the two retaining halves by means of a clip design, a concept that within days was turned into reality using the Protomold® rapid injection moulding service from Proto Labs.
“During assembly we realised that this type of connection did not meet our requirements,” says Mr. Andjelkovic. “In no time we had finished a second iteration, again produced using Protomold, which was joined by ultrasonic welding. This time, our rigorous laboratory testing proved positive. The client was amazed when we delivered it in record time, with documented test results and a scheduled plan for the delivery of production parts.”
His enthusiasm is shared by Mr. Englert: “We had real success with Proto Labs from the outset,” he says. “We got a free analysis that helped us derive a production-oriented part design in our desired plastic. The high precision parts arrived in days. Financially, we are far better off too. The slightly higher cost of parts pales into insignificance compared with the cost of paying for a full production mould tool.”
The Protomold process was also used in another Fortatech application: a ball-type holder for a cable end measuring only a few millimetres in diameter.
“Again is it for the roof of a convertible,” says Mr. Andjelkovic. “Unfortunately I cannot say more because the model is still two years away from appearing on the market. However, during this period of development, Protomold allowed us to experiment in different plastic solutions. The part is traditionally made in metal, so the opportunity to produce it from inexpensive plastic is quite exciting. Furthermore, because the cable runs in the roof area and the assembly is exposed to the weather, potential corrosion problems are avoided.”
Fortatech now also uses Firstcut®, the Proto Labs rapid CNC machining service. For example, on a project exploring different component materials.
“It was about the suitability of stainless steel as a core material instead of fine zinc alloy,” explains Mr. Englert. ” The part is L-shaped, measures only a few millimetres and is partially hollow. The stainless steel material forms the end of a cable strand and is over-moulded with plastic. Due to the lead-times involved, we would never have found a CNC shop prepared to adjust its schedule to meet our production demands. Proto Labs, on the other hand, provided us with these tiny stainless steel parts within just a few days so we could commence testing. As it turned out, although the connection was indeed resistant to corrosion, it offered a less powerful pull than the fine zinc variant.”
“We are very pleased that we can respond quickly to our customers’ demands using the Protomold and Firstcut services,” concludes Mr. Englert. “Proto Labs has become a reliable partner, offering both speed and agility to Fortatech.”
