A new rapid product prototyping lab, funded by a $150,000 grant from The George I. Alden Trust, is being built by Western New England College (Springfield, MA) School of Engineering.
The largest project in terms of facilities renovation and equipment acquisition, the Collaborative Product Realization Laboratory will open in Sleith Hall this September with new high-end computer aided design (CAD) equipment, which will include a 3D scanner and a scanning electron microscope, CNC slant bed lathe and more powerful computers.
Four years ago the School of Engineering launched its foray into rapid prototyping with the purchase of a Dimension fused deposition modeling (FDM) RP machine. The addition of a CNC milling machine in 2006 helped students create better quality models and learn how to reduce the time to market on product development.
