The Timberland Company is using 3D printing technology from Z Corporation to help solidify its position as the vanguard of outdoor-inspired footwear.

Quickly and easily creating its own physical foot and shoe prototypes has helped Timberland reduce their development time by 33 percent and its ‘last’  production time by 92 percent, according to Toby Ringdahl, CAD manager in the company’s global footwear product development division.

Increasingly prevalent in iterative product development, 3D printers produce tangible physical models from computer-aided design files much as document printers produce business letters from word-processing files. Timberland’s ZPrinter 650 produces multicolor 3D models, which are used in refining design concepts.
 
We used to hire an artisan or service provider to make our models, and it typically took two weeks to receive the finished goods, said Ringdahl. Now we simply press ‘print,’ remove our models from the ZPrinter, and continue to move our product concepts to market. Every time we print, we shorten the development cycle and help get new styles to consumers while they’re hot. That’s typically six months earlier than if we still outsourced our models, and at a fraction of the cost.

In addition to shortening the development cycle, ZPrinting has:

Paid for itself quickly by reducing the cost of each model by a factor of ten ($100 in material versus $1,000 spent on a contractor); Reduced Timberland’s mold scrap volume 20 percent by improving communication internally and with manufacturing partners; Cut travel costs to Asia by 10 percent annually, also a result of improved design communication; Enabled more productive design reviews earlier in development cycles, when a course correction is least expensive; and Bolstered sales by improving designs and putting realistic prototypes in the hands of sales representatives and prospects.Smart investment
Timberland decided on the ZPrinter 650 after a formal financial impact analysis that proved ZPrinting is more affordable than comparable platforms. According to Ringdahl, it has distinct advantages in low printer price, software, consumable materials and throughput.

ZPrinters, for example, use inkjet print heads replaceable from the shelf of any office supply store. ZPrinter consumable materials cost a fraction of competitors’, and no material is wasted printing disposable structures to support models inside the build chamber, as with other prototyping systems. Since ZPrinting requires no supports, designs can easily be stacked and nested in the ZPrinter build chamber for sufficient throughput to serve the entire engineering team. ZPrinters produce no hazardous waste and require no special ventilation or work stands. Unmatched automation greatly reduces printer touch time.

The ZPrinter 650 delivers the industry’s biggest models with the superior quality colour and finest resolution. With the largest build volume of any 3D printer, it enables users to print very large multicolor models in hours or to make many smaller models at once. Superior size and color come with more than double the resolution of other devices: 600 x 540 dpi. The ZPrinter 650 combines these qualities with Z Corporation.’s documented speed, automation and office compatibility.

Timberland is a great example of how 3D printing can streamline and improve the entire development process from concept through manufacturing, said Z Corp. Vice President of Global Sales and Services Ed DeArias~Global Sales VP Ed DeArias}. With ready access to affordable [modelsprototypes], companies can improve quality, shorten cycles, control costs and improve communication throughout the organisation. Other manufacturers are discovering these benefits every day.

Anyone who is in the business of collecting business cards for networking opportunities, prospecting, or building a clientele can simplify their task immensely with the utilization of a business card scanner.

This write up offers card scanner reviews or business card scanner comparison. This is meant to supplement the other resources available on reviews on business card scanners but I am sure this will help you just as much.

These useful and extremely small gadgets quickly scan all those business cards that are collected on a routine basis and neatly stores them electronically on your desktop computer, laptop or other portable computing device.

The information is stored as an identical digital replica of the business card you just collected; reducing the stacks of cards many business people find all over their works paces.

More advanced business card scanners will automatically identify the pertinent data on the card, such as name, address, phone number, e-mail address, fax, etc., and create an address book entry for you. This can save a lot of input time and assist you stay organized when it comes to your contact lists.These useful contact management tools also use up a minimal amount of space.They are lightweight and are compact enough to easily fit in your laptop bag or briefcase.

Many of them do not need an external power supply. They link to your computing device with a USB cable, which sends all of the data and powers the device at the same time.

So whether you’re consistently collecting business cards and searching for a way to effectively manage your contacts, or you have lots of business cards you’d like to toss but don’t want to lose the data, a business card scanner may be a solutin for you.

There is more offered on this site, you can take a minute to go through some of the posts provided here

Many stores utilize CCTV Surveillance Systems to prevent shrinkage in the store. This shrinkage can be from either shoplifting or employee theft. What many owners of CCTV Surveillance Systems don’t realize is that the CCTV system monitor people too and can be utilized for several other ancillary tasks. These ancillary tasks provide a direct cost benefit to the organization and must be a consideration when a CCTV system is contemplated for purchase.

One of the biggest detriments to a business is the lack of safe parking. Through the use of a CCTV system the parking area for the business can be monitored and the decision can be made as to whether or not there is sufficient customer parking. Should there be a lack of customer parking the owner can make and enforce rules regarding parking for the staff thus freeing up parking area for the customer.

The CCTV system can also be equipped with a counter to determine traffic flow. A camera equipped with a motion detector can be trained on the entrance to the store. Each time that the motion detector detects someone entering the store a counter is activated. The use of the data provided by the camera can allow the owner of the store to determine traffic count into the store. Through the utilization of this data, the store owner can adjust the amount of personnel on the sales floor to the traffic in the store. The proper amount of sales staff insures that needs of the customers can be met and the customers will provide future sales.

Staff are people and people want to look good for the boss. When the owner or manager is present, all of the staff are on their best behavior. The question arises however, what are they doing when the owner or manager is out of sight? The only answer to this is through CCTV systems. When a CCTV system is installed, areas that are not subject to shrinkage should be monitored. Storage areas, break rooms and other places in the store should be monitored to enable the owner or management to determine just what the staff is doing while they are in the office. This monitoring ability allows owner or management the opportunity to determine which employees are truly working and being productive and which employees only look good when the owner or manager is in sight of them.

CCTV Surveillance Systems do cut down on shoplifting and in store shrinkage. The CCTV Surveillance Systems also permit additional benefits to both owners and managers. Determinations of customer flow and employee conduct can also be made. These additional benefits are of great value to any store owner. Did you learn something about CCTV Surveillance Systems?

I recommend you check this out for further information, this site has other articles that will help you out: Security Systems and Surveillance or CCTV Solutions