Philippe Christou looks at some of the latest rapid prototyping materials and production technologies now able to cater for all a manufacturer’s needs, from concept design to finished part, faster and more cost effectively than ever before.

Innovative domestic lighting has entered commercial production using plastic laser-sintering machines. Martina Methner reports.

Manufactured using a metal-free composite material as industry concern grows over the continued use of metals in meters

Discs are specifically designed to meet stringent sanitary, aseptic CIP/SIP requirements

UK's offshore wind energy programme could be in doubt and the carbon reducing potential of technology may not fully realised

Larox will introduce an new standardised range of Pannevis RT Horizontal Vacuum Belt Filters in time for Achema 2006

Siemens Automation and Drives' new Sirius 3UG4 series monitoring relays can be used to protect critical plant and machinery

Parker Instrumentation's latest valves are said to overcome many of the problems traditionally experienced with process instrumentation valves

Sick is introducing the Inox series stainless steel proximity sensors, specifically designed for meat processing, beverage and pharmaceutical applications where high-pressure, caustic washdowns are the norm.

A new 318 laser barrel sensor being introduced by Leuze Mayser will appeal to those companies developing and building automated conveying systems; its exceptionally high switching frequency of 5kHz allows precise positioning and detection of objects, while the hollow barrel design means its accuracy is unaffected by changes in ambient fluctuations.

Festo is launching an electro-pneumatic valve family that allows full-featured automation systems to be built around a configurable manifold – which allows the functionality of a control cabinet to be replaced with a standalone, point-of-use system.

Coade is releasing Caesar II Version 5.00, an updated edition of the company's popular software for pipe stress analysis with a new look plus some significant new functional capabilities.

Stainless steel bite-type fittings come into their own whenever the highest demands for corrosion- and media-resistance, as well as pressure and temperature, are placed on a fluid system.

The Larox peristaltic pumps (LPP-D) are suitable for pumping diverse slurries and dosing a wide range of media.

Rotork IQ and IQT intelligent electric actuators with Pakscan 2-wire digital control have been installed on a specialised area of the plant that manufactures the world’s largest, most advanced and efficient commercial airliner.

Specialist industrial motor manufacturer Solutions Engineering is able to test the performance of its motors, having built a test station to its own specification based around a piezo electric torque transducer.

The world’s population has tripled in the last century, but its use of water has increased by a factor of six. This means that while our planet today has the same amount of water as it did a million years ago, there are now six billion people competing for that asset.

Coriolis technology offers accuracy and reliability in measuring material flow in pipelines and is often hailed as among the most superior flow measurement technologies

Extremely heat-sensitive fine chemicals and other substances are safely and efficiently separated with Pope Scientific’s Hybrid Still Technology.

End users must be tired of instrument manufacturers referring to Lord Kelvin’s famous quote and advising that unless you measure the flow of a utility, you cannot manage it.