JTM Group, Inc.

Company: JTM Group, Inc.
Product: Design and Building of Complex Three-Dimensional Molds
Annual Sales: $2.5 million
Number of Employees: 20
Year Founded: 1978
Location: Jamestown, N.Y.

Situation:

JTM wanted to capitalize on new technology capable of creating a concurrent art to production environment -- a paperless method of designing, displaying and cutting molds for plastic parts using computer engineering, illustration, animation and Internet file transfer capabilities.

Project:

The company joined the PTDC's affiliated MoldFlow and Rapid Prototyping consortia to learn how to best utilize its investment in Silicon Graphics workstations. A center research associate was contracted to offer JTM employees hands-on computer instruction and guidance, as well as introduce the company to other emerging technologies from which it might benefit.

Result:

JTM's new process of designing, testing and cutting molds from computer models has reduced the time needed to build a mold from 10 to 12 weeks to just six or eight. Because moldmakers are able to work from a three-dimensional model that can be rotated, animated and tested on a computer screen, mistakes are detected and eliminated before the part is created.

Company Comments from Larry Richard Jr.; Vice President, Sales and Computer Resources:

"Three-dimensional realities save our customers time, and allow them to see their parts in action even before they are engineered. We're able to get our parts to market faster, which makes JTM more competitive. We were already moving in this direction, but the PTDC helped us get here faster."