The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 08, 2006
Filed:
Apr. 25, 2005
Lawrence J. Lukis, Wayzata, MN (US);
Christopher Walls-manning, Ramsey, MN (US);
Mark R. Kubicek, Lakeville, MN (US);
Lawrence J. Lukis, Wayzata, MN (US);
Christopher Walls-Manning, Ramsey, MN (US);
Mark R. Kubicek, Lakeville, MN (US);
The Protomold Company, Inc., Maple Plain, MN (US);
Abstract
A first customer provides a CAD file defining the surface profile for a part to be molded to the system, and a second customer does the same for a second part. The system determines whether the materials match and the run dates overlap, thereby qualifying the parts for use in a multi-customer mold block. The system assesses the part surface profile (which could have any of a virtually infinite number of shapes) of the parts submitted and lays out the parts from multiple customers on one or more multi-customer mold blocks. Savings are generated, such as by reducing redundancies in press clean-up, in set-up, in tooling, and in surface finishing. Due to these savings, the system provides a quotation of the part to at least one of the customers which differs from the quotation that would be provided if each part was run independent of parts of other customers.