PRODUCTS & S ER V ICES
You can’t replace physical touch in a digital design world.
One company is bringing touch back to aviation interior
Learn more
about Sekisui SPI in
the Aircraft Interiors
International 2020
Design Showcase,
out in November
ai r c raf t inter iorsinternat ional . com 113
NOVEMBER 2019
ow many engineers and
designers have created
cardboard mockups or used
tape on the floor to outline the footprint
of a design? Countless. While virtual
renderings have changed the world
of design, the ability to touch and get
a physical sense of an idea can’t be
replaced. In a virtual world, designers
and engineers have struggled with
things like spatial configuration and
understanding how parts come together.
Sekisui SPI is working to bring together
the virtual and physical worlds through
rapid prototyping to help their customers.
Expressly available to designers,
engineers and thermoformers, teams at
Sekisui SPI’s innovation centers – appLab
and designLab – are reinventing the
design process by providing a unique
combination of 3D visualisation, rapid
prototyping and an extensive materials
portfolio. Taking a tour of this space
focussed on leading-edge creativity
makes it clear this team is dedicated
to their customers’ experiences and
innovations.
Vivid colours and imagery, technology
and real-world examples are used
throughout the designLab to spark
inspiration. The tools and technology
needed to create a new part and
customise colours, as well as the
expertise of the in-house design team,
are available to a visiting designer,
engineer or thermoformer. A variety
of textures, glosses, transparency and
opacity levels, and the ability to print
your own images on materials make
it possible to create physically precise
virtual designs that represent the true
appearance of the final product.
With the hum of a manufacturing
plant in the background, the appLab is
where virtual design is brought to life.
The team works with customers in a
design through rapid prototyping
H
BRINGING TOUCH BACK
isolation, innovation can happen
in real time,” explains David
Scott, global creative for Kydex
Thermoplastics. “By leveraging
design with the right people, tools,
technology and equipment, both digital
and physical designs are brought to life
earlier in the design phase.”
Scott summarises the impact to
business by saying, “Key design decisions
regarding colours and materials can be
made earlier and with more confidence.”
In the competitive world of design,
time-to-market is a critical success
factor. There is no comparison to the
speed that digital design and delivery
offers to achieve a look that best
represents the brand, and there is no
digital substitute for experiencing how
a part feels. That’s why Sekisui SPI has
developed innovation centres – to help
designers and engineers experience rapid
prototyping, which speeds the process
of concept, design and delivery.
KYDEX THERMOPLASTICS’ RAPID
PROTOTYPING INSIDE APPLAB AND
DESIGNLAB
clean, bright space, with the latest
processing equipment available in
the thermoplastics industry. While
tooling for the designed part is
constructed, a production team is
busy making the custom colour material.
The next day, everything needed to create
the part is ready. The appLab technicians
take customers through the process to
manufacture a finished part. The
designers and engineers can touch it and
feel it – and for the first time, get a real
sense of how it will work within the
whole design. The appLab team ships the
sample part directly to the designer or
engineer’s office so that it is waiting upon
their return. A process that usually takes
weeks or months, is now done in days.
“When all the physical and digital
elements are under one roof and not in
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To request more details from Sekisui SPI,
visit www.magupdate.co.uk/paii
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