Custom Designed Casings for Information Stands or Central Control Units of Medical Treatment Devices: NO TOOLING – NO INITIAL INVESTEMENT
A plastic POS tablet stand, or self-standing terminal housing is a volume created by assembling plastic sheets to protect, embellish or cover electronic equipment. With its column shape, in most cases, it is a stand-alone casing including a display.
For those bigger size applications, such as central units, often needed for medical treatment devices the LTP NO TOOLING technology is the most efficient solution. This no tooling technology is the most efficient solution, as it allows manufacturers of electronic devices to develop a custom-designed solution without having to develop and invest into custom designed tooling needed for mass production technologies, such as injection.
The price for a medical device generally is situated between 20 - 70 000 €. Within the cost calculation for electronic components and various building parts, approximately 5% is allocated to the enclosure or housing. The annual production quantity for this kind of devices is situated around 200 - 600 pieces per year. Furthermore, those devices often need to be modified and further improved during their product life cycle.
The fabrication via a technology needing a mould (injection, thermoforming etc.) will trigger very high initial investment costs for the tooling (20 000 – 80 000€). If a product is stable and fabricated in high quantities, the ROI can be reached very quickly. If a product is however not stable yet, new specific tooling or a new mould have to be produced and the ROI will most probably never be reached.
With the LTP solution the unit price will be higher compared to injection moulding, there will however be no initial investment costs and modifications can be made between any serial production. LTP uses its own production equipment, such as CNC milling, bending machines and gluing techniques, which are specifically configured for each project and each production run.
How can terminal kiosk enclosure made of plastic panels be robust enough and meet UL specifications?
Bigger size plastic enclosures can be designed just as robust as a metal enclosure, if the product design is smart and well adapted to the device and its working environment. Since the beginning of the company in 1985, LTP has developed various methods to strengthen large size plastic volumes. This can be done from the inside like carpentry work or an inner chassis. One of the big advantages to metal is the fact, that a plastic standalone enclosure is much lighter than metal. Manufacturers of electronic devices can keep their transport costs low and the end customer has a device that can be easily moved around.
A plastic point of sales (POS) information stand is a good example. This kind of plastic enclosure generally consists of a bottom plate, a main trunk with an inner chassis and a sloped top part for the display and the total weight ranges between 5 – 30kg. The same enclosure in metal would weight x3 for Aluminium and x8 for Steel.
Another common use for a trolley enclosure is the central unit of a medical device. The portable parts of the central unit are then linked by cable, RFID or a Bluetooth connection.
An LTP custom designed plastic enclosure allows creating an aesthetic product family look for the central unit as well as the applicator units.
Devices used in an industrial environment need to be robust enough against oil or chemicals. In the health and beauty sector they often need to apply to standards such as UL and include mechanical resistance. All those requirements can be met within the LTP technology. Right from the beginning for example PVC can be chosen as the raw material due to its resistance against chemicals. Or the choice could be standard ABS material, including an extra strong clear varnish, protecting the outer appearance of the device from dirt or cleaning products.
An LTP designed trolley enclosure meets technical specifications and blends in perfectly within is application environment!
A custom designed plastic casing not only allows the development of a light and yet robust solution, but it furthermore allows the manufacturer to give the right look to the device. In opposite to metal casing, with plastic more aesthetic and shapes can be created.
For example, in a laboratory, medical or cosmetic working environment round shapes and hygienic looking whites are used. In an industrial production environment where a device is exposed to dirt, dust, oils or chemicals, product designers prefer using colours like black, grey and silver but still prefer round and modern shapes to give the equipment a modern and state of the art look. Manufacturers of electronic devices have two goals to full fill when they work on a new production.
Firstly, the product needs to provide value add functions to its user and secondly its external appearance needs to be in line with its target group.
Robust, but light and aesthetically adapted to your market that is LTP's contribution to your sales success!