The production of injection-molding prototypes, e.g., molded interconnect devices (MID) prototypes, can be costly and time-consuming due to the process-specific inability to replace durable steel tooling with quicker fabricated aluminum tooling. Instead, additively manufactured soft tooling is a solution for the production of small quantities and prototypes, but producing complex parts with, e.g., undercuts, is avoided due to the necessity of additional soft tooling components. The integration of automated soft slides into soft tooling has not yet been investigated and poses a challenge for the design and endurance of the tooling. The presented study covers the design and injection-molding trial of soft tooling with integrated automated slides for the production of a complex MID prototype. The design further addresses issues like the alignment of the mold components and the sealing of the complex parting plane. The soft tooling was additively manufactured via digital light processing from a silica-filled photopolymer, and 10 proper parts were injection-molded from a laser-direct structurable glass fiber-filled PET+PBT material before the first damage on the tooling occurred. Although improvements are suggested to enhance the soft tooling durability, the designed features worked as intended and are generally transferable to other part geometries.

The project “key enabling technologies for clean production” (KET4CP), which is supported by the European Commission, has the aim to connect small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and Technology Centres (TC) for cleaner, greener and more efficient production. Within this context, SMEs and TCs across Europe work together to establish an open-innovation network and to raise awareness in productivity and environmental performance. This article presents how an open European network of TCs opens its innovation process to support SMEs to become cleaner, greener and more efficient. Furthermore, this article shows how the TCs and SMEs become a part of the open-eco-innovation platform in clean production and how successful the open-eco-innovation process of different European countries is. We revealed that a pan-European open innovation process for eco-innovations with TCs for key enabling technologies (KET TCs) and Enterprise Europe Network partners (EEN) is a successful approach for SMEs that want to produce and develop cleaner products. An application example is mentioned, in which TCs from different European countries have contributed to developing a product of a SME for energy harvesting. The SME, together with the TCs, developed a generator that is installed in city-level water supply pipes and so, it is outstanding in its application. This innovative application is also described in this article.

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The development and manufacturing of high-precision micro-mechatronic systems (MMS) is a challenging task, and the high demand for individualized products complicates the engineering design process (EDP) in particular. The established EDP for MMS is not designed for individualized products. This article gives an overview of the challenges (critical factors) in product development and manufacturing of individualized MMS (iMMS), a novel definition of iMMS, and describes a new qualitative methodology in order to tailor an EDP based on use cases, so-called “Tailored EDP-Methodology” (TEDP-Methodology). This TEDP-Methodology allows creating use-case-based product groups through the abstraction of the use cases and evaluating the requirements, which is essential to tailor or develop a new EDP. For the development of this new approach, a literature review and qualitative content analysis are prefaced. The TEDP-Methodology is critically examined and validated with a real case study for the development and manufacturing of an iMMS. This study shows critical points within the EDP. It shows fields of action for innovative tools to support the development process of iMMS and requirements for different product groups within iMMS. This article has both theoretical and practical implications.