Dr. Ping Fu was a featured speaker at the last MCPC 2005 conference in Hong Kong, and has been now named the "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Inc., a leading US business magazine.
GeoMagic develops and distributes a software, which allows to generate on-the-fly real time virtual models out of optical 3D scans. The so called DSSP process allows that millions of data points become an impeccable virtual model of the original part, ready to be measured, tested, tweaked, and reproduced. On the MCPC 2005, Ping Fu demonstrated how this process has been applied from helping dentists to produce dental components up to scanning and virtually modeling the Statue of Liberty.
But in the December 2005 issue of Inc., John Brant tells the story of the person behind the technology and how a team of wife and husband created these solutions. It is a really great, and also very stirring story very worthwhile to read:
"Over the past decade, Geomagic has defined and dominated the high-tech field of digital shape sampling and processing, or DSSP, which entails scanning an object with optical beams, then rendering it on a computer screen in full three-dimensional fidelity for manufacturing, testing, and inspection purposes. In the past five years, Geomagic's revenue has grown by 2,105%, to around $30 million a year.
DSSP technology holds so much promise because it is universally applicable; any object, animate or inanimate, natural or manmade, of any shape or size, still or, in some cases, moving, can be digitally processed. Within the past few years, DSSP--and Geomagic--has transformed the hearing aid and dental tech industries, helped digitally preserve the Statue of Liberty, streamlined the manufacturing process for Fisher-Price dollhouses, and recreated engine manifolds for a NASCAR racing team. Last summer, DSSP crossed into public consciousness by playing a key role in the perilous landing of the space shuttle Challenger; relying on Geomagic software, NASA engineers scanned and inspected the spacecraft's damaged shuttle tiles with a 10-foot-long robotic arm, and subsequently determined that they could safely withstand the stress of reentry into Earth's atmosphere.
While 2005 represented a breakout year for the company, an even brighter future beckons--and not just for Geomagic, but for manufacturing itself. By the end of the decade, three-dimensional DSSP technology promises to become as common as two-dimensional computer graphics are today. Ping's dream of mass customization, in which DSSP technology allows custom-made locally produced goods to be manufactured as cheaply as mass-produced outsourced ones, might come to pass. "
Read the full story here.
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