Air(line)worthy

For many years ACI has used its own in-house FDM (fused-deposit modelling) machine to create design prototypes before committing to external suppliers to produce steel tooling and final injection-moulded parts - this process works especially as production tooling can be a very time consuming and costly process. "We found Proto Labs from a trade CAD publication. Initially, we were looking for a company that could produce larger prototype models than we could in-house," says James Deans, director of Airline Components International (ACI). "We were delighted when we discovered that as well as making prototype injection-moulded parts, Proto Labs could also deliver short production runs that are so much more time-effective than traditional injection-moulding suppliers. That's when we realised we'd discovered something very significant." Since its first experience, ACI has used Protomold to create a wide range of parts. Everything from seat parts to carpet joiners, galley products to overhead bin components and even seat-back video surrounds. "When we contact Proto Labs with a query or a question, whether it's about a new type of material or a design modification that will make the part easier to manufacture, we get the answers we need and we have found the team at Protomold are always very pro-active," says Will Matthews, design manager, "this is quite different to our experiences with other suppliers. If Proto Labs don't know the answer straight away, they'll investigate and get back to us very quickly. We're in the business of short lead-times so every hour counts. We always know where we are with Proto Labs."