INCS Prototyping and Manufacturing Services Make Japan a Model for the World Market Introduction With more than 600 employees and revenue of over 10 billion yen ($100M U.S.), Tokyo, Japan-based INCS is one of the largest manufacturing and prototyping service bureaus in Japan. INCS offers an innovative 3-D prototyping process that dramatically reduces a manufacturer's product development cycle. The company provides its prototyping services to a wide range of manufacturing industries, and counts among its customers some of the country’s leading automotive and electronics manufacturers. Those customers, in turn, count on INCS to supply them with complex and durable three-dimensional prototypes for new car and cell phone designs. For this type of work, it is critical to achieve the fastest possible turnaround time. "A service bureau is a very demanding business requiring timely delivery of each prototype," says INCS president and founder Shinjiro Yamada. Fortunately for its customers, the company has more than 30 rapid prototyping systems from 3D Systems (Valencia, California USA). This equipment, which includes 3D Systems’ SLA® 5000 systems (stereolithography), SLA 7000 systems, and the latest SLS® systems (selective laser sintering), allows INCS to provide short lead-time prototyping services. Witness to a Revolution While the INCS story takes place in Japan, it began in Detroit, Michigan USA. While working there for Mitsui Manufacturing & Smelting Company, Ltd. in the late 1980s, Yamada saw a demonstration of the stereolithography rapid prototyping capabilities of a 3D Systems machine. That was a profound experience, says Yamada. "I saw firsthand how well the machine performed," he recalls. "I concluded that this machine had the potential to revolutionize the prototyping world in Japan." As a result, Yamada founded INCS in 1990. INCS soon became a service bureau, with a single machine from 3D Systems, the SLA 250 system, and began to add steadily to its stable of systems. In 1993, INCS also became the distributor of 3D Systems products in Japan. INCS had acquired 10 stereolithography systems by 1997 and more than 20 systems by 2001. All of these were 3D Systems SLA products, including the sophisticated SLA 7000 system. This top-of-the-line system features a low-vibration optical system and revolutionary dual-spot laser technology. These technologies maximize throughput and surface quality, while also minimizing post-processing. INCS also has the Viper™ SLA system, which combines standard- and high-resolution part building in the same system. The range of their SLA systems allows INCS to handle prototypes ranging in size from several millimeters to more than one meter by combining parts, while meeting the tight tolerances and accuracy requirements of the Japanese market. With these systems, INCS built a service that has achieved an average delivery time of four days. Thus, an order could arrive on Friday at the company’s Kawasaki City Solid Reality Center (SRC) and the parts could be delivered by Monday. To ensure the fastest possible turnaround time, the company also connected its Tokyo Technical Center, the site of its engineering and modeling efforts, to the SRC via a high-speed private line. This link ensures that the systems run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Strength and Stability Thanks to this setup, INCS is able to serve its customers with parts modeling such items as instrument panels for new car designs. However, the automotive market in particular has several specific requirements. Yamada explains, "For example, dimensional stability is extremely important for automotive applications." An automotive design firm might want to quickly create a prototype of a dashboard and then subject it to the drilling and fastening needed to mount it into a car. Ideally, the prototype would be able to easily tolerate such handling. What’s more, the perfect model would be stable enough to be placed on a shelf for several months and then used, without any measurable change in its performance. In order to meet these objectives, INCS began to look at the latest SLS products from 3D Systems. INCS had considered using an earlier generation of these systems, but it concluded that the technology could not yet meet certain part tolerance specifications. With the most recent systems, however, this challenge has been overcome. INCS ordered its first pair of SLS systems in March 2004 and put them to use in a series of tests. That was followed by a trial period during which INCS actually built customer parts using these machines. The results impressed INCS and its customers. For one thing, there were no problems with the sintered material when customers drilled into it or secured it with screws and other fasteners. "The material is extremely strong and is easily used for a wide range of applications," says Yamada. Just as important, the SLS parts were dimensionally very stable, so customers could use the parts much as they would any traditionally machined product. In the case of a dashboard instrument panel, Yamada points out that a customer took the prototype, put fasteners in it, attached it to the car, and then removed the panel. Some three months later, the part was pulled down from the shelf and reused without any difficulty, due to its high dimensional stability. He tells a similar story in the case of a part involving automotive air conditioning ductwork. The combination of strength and durability means that customers are happier with the parts delivered by INCS. Yamada notes that greater dimensional stability means that parts can be subjected to more extensive and rigorous testing by customers, which benefits both INCS and its clients. He says, "They can continue testing for a longer period of time and ultimately they are more satisfied with the performance of the prototype." Improved Results Lead to Increased Sales Based on these results and experiences, INCS ordered and installed three additional SLS systems as of August 2004. As a result, over a six-month period the service bureau’s SLS capacity more than doubled. Behind this growth lies a belief at INCS that now is the time to invest. Yamada and other company executives also know that the capabilities of the new systems will help the company take advantage of any improvement in the business climate. While that transformation may be in the future, the new systems are paying off today. "Our total sales volume is increasing because of the high quality and reliability of the SLS machines from 3D Systems," says Yamada. "We have had very positive feedback." He continues, "This system is probably going to be more rapidly accepted in Japan than anywhere else in the world." The reasons for this, notes Yamada, have to do with product design cycles. Yamada estimates that automotive designs are completed twice as fast in Japan compared to elsewhere in the world. As a result, there’s more demand for rapid prototyping, but any models built have to meet the material property requirements of the automotive industry. The ability of the 3D Systems SLS equipment to meet that requirement is the basis for his prediction about the popularity of the parts made with the SLS systems. This recent acquisition of SLS equipment does not mean that INCS is abandoning SLA technology. Yamada predicts that the durability and stability of the SLS approach will ultimately attract about 30 percent of what he sees as an expanded rapid prototyping and manufacturing market. He even believes that some combination of the SLA and SLS systems in a hybrid approach could be implemented. He does not see a single machine supplying both technologies. Rather, he envisions the initial use of a transparent stereolithography material, which would be followed with an SLS material for durability when prototypes are actually attached. Yamada says that his approach is to transcend existing ideals and to continuously create new values for the manufacturing world. His success in Japan may well serve as a prototype that will revolutionize the worldwide manufacturing market. Company Profile INCS Inc. of Tokyo, Japan, produces prototypes by stereolithography and selective laser sintering. To assist its customers, INCS offers CAD design services and solid modeling consulting services. In addition to its Japanese operations, the company has an office in the United States in Detroit, Michigan. The company also sells 3D Systems products in Japan.