Complex shapes and parts can be designed and manufactured in record time, using sophisticated three-dimensional scanning equipment at the Creusot Technology Platform (IUT) – Plateform3D. Part of the Creusot University Institute of Technology (IUT) in eastern France, this high-tech centre is a place for exchanges between business and national education.
- 07 December 2009
Thanks to Europe’s support, Le Creusot has entered the third dimension.
“”
Plateform3D specialises in everything from scanning to 3D design, and from prototyping to rapid manufacturing, as well as inspection and reverse engineering. It brings together teaching establishments and research laboratories physically located near one another and which have complementary fields of expertise.
Ultramodern equipment
The area around Le Creusot, Burgundy, has a history of industrial expertise, in mining and then metalworking. Today it is home to world-class steel companies and a leading educational centre in its region, thanks to institutions such as the University of Burgundy.
The IUT Le Creusot has four departments, all with a focus on engineering and related disciplines, plus two laboratories and the Plateform3D. The campus site also includes a technical school and another university department, Condorcet, managing an Erasmus Mundus Master.
Established in 2001 and certified by the French authorities in 2001, Plateform3D was named ‘PFT’ (Technology Platform) in April 2008. The goal of Plateform3D is to encourage innovation and research in local businesses and small businesses. It does this by offering them completed work, training, and by providing research and development services and know-how in the field of design and manufacture of complex objects.
In addition to the IUT, the platform calls on the know-how of several research and development units on the Le Creusot site, among them the Le2i laboratory specialising in artificial vision and the ICB laboratory dedicated to laser and materials work. It also mobilises the resources of the Léon Blum and Camille Claudel schools.
Made in minutes or hours
To provide an innovative service and education in its specialist field, Plateform3D continues to acquire the latest equipment for making three-dimensional measurements and rapidly producing complex parts. Its technicians, teachers and students call on a 3D scanner, 3D design tools, machines to produce complex shapes, and 3D measuring and inspection tools.
One of the machines to have received support from EU funding is the robotic cell for 3D digitisation. Alongside the other machines, it has been used to produce everything from spare parts for a rare 1950s car to the modelling of old machines, and the reproduction and archiving of an ancient statue for a museum.