For more information:

DEMAT Exposition Managing

49 69 27 40 03 0

Fax 49 69 27 40 0340

www.euromold.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EuroMold to Feature Conference on New Developments

and Trends in Rapid Prototyping

EuroMold 2001 World Fair for Moldmaking and Tooling, Design, and Application

Development is November 28 through December 1 in Frankfurt, Germany

New Developments and Trends in RP Around the World 

is November 30 at EuroMold 2001

FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, USA, August 8, 2001—DEMAT Exposition Managing and Wohlers Associates, Inc. announced today an industry conference titled New Developments and Trends in RP Around the World.  The event brings to focus best practices, advances, and trends in rapid prototyping (RP), rapid tooling (RT), and rapid manufacturing (RM).  The conference will bring together a group of world-class speakers to address the most important issues associated with the present and future of RP and related technologies and applications.

The international conference coincides with EuroMold 2001, a trade fair that is expected to draw more than 55,000 engineers, tool and die makers, managers, and executives from around the world.  “Last year, 53,600 visitors and 1,500 exhibitors from 74 countries participated in EuroMold,” said Diana Schnabel, a chief executive at DEMAT Exhibition Managing, the organizer of the annual event.  “In years past, RP has ranked as one of the top three topics of interest among those who attended,” Schnabel explained.  The conference targets manufacturers of consumer electronics, sporting goods, toys, medical supplies and instruments, industrial machinery, business machines, aircraft, and automobiles. 

Topics at the RP conference will include best practices in RP and tooling, new methods and machines, what’s hot and what’s not, partnerships and acquisitions, global sourcing, developments in rapid tooling, rapid manufacturing, and future technologies and applications.  The conference is expected to give updates on machines, methods, materials, and software products from 3D Systems, Arcam, BMT, CMET, DTM, EOS, Generis, Kira, Materialise, microTEC, Objet, Solidica, Solidimension, Stratasys, Toyoda Machine Works, Z Corp., and others.

“Global sourcing will be an important element of the conference,” explained Dr. Eberhard Döring, a chief executive at DEMAT Exhibition Managing.  Worldwide, companies are increasingly working with service providers, tooling vendors, and partners across international borders.  “This offers many opportunities to lower costs, compress schedules, and design new products around the clock in a non-stop digital environment,” Döring said.  “At the same time, global sourcing presents new challenges,” he stated.  Companies are faced with finding methods and tools that aid in communicating product design data with others at multiple sites.  Some have made it work well while others have been less successful.

Ten speakers from Europe, Asia, the USA, and other parts of the world will be a part of the conference.  Most of the speakers will be members of or affiliated with the Global Alliance of Rapid Prototyping Associations (GARPA), a non-profit organization co-founded by industry consultant Terry Wohlers, president of Wohlers Associates, Inc. and chairman of the conference.  New Developments and Trends in RP Around the World is scheduled for November 30 at the EuroMold 2001 exhibition center in Frankfurt, Germany.  The trade fair runs from November 28 through December 1, 2001.

Wohlers Associates, Inc. (Fort Collins, Colorado, USA) provides technical, marketing, and strategic consulting on the new developments and trends in product development, prototyping, tooling, and manufacturing.  For more information, visit wohlersassociates.com.

DEMAT Exhibition Managing (Frankfurt, Germany) organizes some of the most successful trade fairs in Europe.  For more information on EuroMold and the RP conference, phone 49 69 27 40 03 0, fax 49 69 27 40 03 40, or visit www.euromold.com.

GARPA is an organization formed in 1998 to encourage the exchange of information across international borders.  Members include groups and associations in Australia, Canada, mainland China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, the UK, and the USA.  More information on GARPA is available at www.garpa.org.

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