05-19-2009
The Maetta System: Why MIM Is Also Very Cost Efficient For Small Production Volumes
The growth of the Metal Injection Molding (MIM) technology over the last decade has been driven by its efficiency in high production volume. However, until now, MIM has failed to offer efficient prototyping capability and low production costs with regards to low production volumes typically required in the medical and aerospace markets. In fact, the high cost of tooling and set up in conventional MIM often makes prototyping and low volume manufacturing prohibitive. As a result, several industries that typically require smaller production volumes have been denied the design flexibility and manufacturing efficiency of MIM. In the recent years, Maetta Sciences has developed a new scalable manufacturing process based on MIM (”the Maetta SystemTM“) that offers efficient prototyping and low production costs with regards to small production volumes. The Maetta SystemTM combines design flexibility and production efficiency with low tooling cost, making business cases for prototyping and low volume manufacturing very attractive. Skeptical? The cost of our tooling for prototyping varies between $100 and $1,500. The cost of tooling for production is usually below $5,000. Curious? Watch this video of manual metal injection molding. Of course, molds can also be automated if the production volume requires it.
