Leading Product Design Firm Powered by MDX-540

Design Reality and its Roland MDX-540

ST. ASAPH, NORTH WALES – Established in 2000 and based in St. Asaph, North Wales, Design Reality is a leading industrial and product design consulting firm with a global client base. Its services include CAD design, reverse engineering, digital visualization and production tooling as well as Advanced Rapid Prototyping (ARP), CNC services, conceptual sketch work, graphic design, print production and consumer-based marketing research.

In the summer of 2008, the company purchased its first Roland DG Modela Pro II MDX-540 benchtop milling machine, and in just six months, the machine, which employs Roland’s Subtractive Rapid Prototyping (SRP) technology, has already made a significant contribution to improving the efficiency and quality of the company’s prototyping service.

Says Troy Baker, managing director at Design Reality: “The key business driver behind the purchase of the Roland DG MDX milling machine was to improve our prototyping services and help meet the increasing production demands placed on our existing facility. With a client base that includes Unilever PLC, Tyco Scott Health and Safety and the N.H.S, and products as diverse as machine tools, prototypes for respirator face seals, small medical devices and hand-held units, we needed to ensure we purchased a milling machine that could prototype products to the highest quality, as efficiently as possible.”

Exceeding expectations

The Roland machine has more than lived up to the company’s expectations. “It’s a great addition to our prototyping and soft tooling facility. The MDX has integrated well into our workshop and complements perfectly our in-house prototyping service for clients,” says Mr. Baker. “The surface finish for each model produced on the MDX is excellent and the increased machining speed means our customers are benefiting from both high quality models and faster service.”

The MDX-540 is used to create tooling for the casting of silicon parts for use in the development and prototyping of primary face seal designs for a twin-filter respirator and other new products. “We recently used the Roland MDX-540 to aid in the design and development phase of a project for one of our larger clients, Tyco Scott Health & Safety,” says Troy. “The project involved designing the primary face seal of the AV3500 Firefighters respirator. The MDX-540 performed extremely well on this project, providing us with a high quality end product and a much faster turnaround of tooling and casting of silicons for seal testing.”

Designer uses hand held MDX-540 controller for quick, easy milling of prototypes.

Bringing designs to reality

Design Reality specializes in using its innovative creativity and engineering production knowledge to take a project from concept and design right through to manufacture to produce stunning and technologically strong prototypes and products. These core skills are enhanced with the support of a team of people who specialize in trends analysis, behavioral research, brand strategy and ergonomics to strengthen its reputation for “bringing designs to reality.”

Roland DG Modela Pro II MDX-540

Through its in-house model-making workshop, which designs and builds products in plastic, rubber and textile, the company can quickly validate design ideas through SLA or VAC cast models. This hands-on approach to design has meant that its concepts truly work the first time. Troy says that whereas the company would have previously purchased an SLA or similar device, it can now do all its soft tooling in-house. This ensures the company can offer a more reliable, swift and cost-effective service to its clients.

Continues Troy: "Roland DG has a great brand in the market. Its products are recognized for their reliability and competitive prices. The MDX-540 really complements our existing prototyping machines. Our customers have been delighted with the end result.

We have been very impressed with the overall robustness of the machine, as well as its reliability and the efficiency improvements it provides.”

It’s experience that counts

In addition to the technology itself, Troy says the company has also been very impressed with Roland DG and its dealer, Patrick Thorn, throughout the process: “Patrick Thorn’s wealth of experience convinced us that the MDX-540 was the right step forward for our business. His product knowledge and ability to clearly demonstrate how this machine was relevant to a design agency like ours was outstanding. Throughout the whole process, there has been just the right level and frequency of contact and support.”

Design Reality’s investment in the Roland MDX-540 is just the latest step in an ongoing investment program, which includes upgrading and renewing the workshop facilities and more essential training for staff. In 2009 Troy sees the company exploringopportunities for larger volume contracts as well as gaining further accreditations to its current ISO9001 quality standard and Investors in People status.

Troy concludes: “The key to the success of any business is to have innovative ideas backed by great people and clever technology. We are very fortunate to have all three components at Design Reality, and we are looking forward to 2009 with confidence.”