Anza, Inc.

ANZA's Composite Material Services are custom made-to-order parts for your companies specific application. While our specialty is urethane casting our new rapidly expanding composite service is available in a wide variety of core constructions, materials and surface finishes to meet your unique needs. The main purpose of composites is to achieve a better or lower cost material than that available monolithic materials. Composite materials, sometimes referred to as composites, are materials composed of two or more component parts. These component parts may have different physical or chemical properties and when carefully inspected they appear as separate parts, bonded together forming a composite material. The product pictured above is our Porsche 924, 944, and 968 amateur road racing carbon fiber splitter, many other models will be available in the near future. If you have a special carbon fiber or composite material need please contact us we would glad to meet and discuss what ANZA's Composite Material Services can do for you.

It is almost required today to be able to show images of your idea via technology. And let’s face it, not everyone is a designer or a CAD operator. If you are a designer or a creative person that does not know how to use “CAD”, then we can help. We can take your information in whatever shape you have it in: verbal with “hand-waving”, napkin sketches, crude model, etc, and put it into a 3D file format. If the geometry is such that it lends itself to simplicity then it may be quite feasible that you can sit with an industrial designer at a CAD station and work side by side with them to develop the form. We become an extension of you by listening closely to your needs and applying our good foundational design skills to the CAD model. It is a fantastic way for you to see the idea come to realization in a virtual world and have the comfort knowing it’s moving in a positive, producible direction. For over 15 years, our choice of software has been SolidWorks. It is a parametric, hybrid modeler capable of both freeform surfaces as well as solids. With over 1, 000, 000 installs across the globe, it is one of the most recognized, well established CAD packages in the world. Virtually all manufacturing arenas accept this software and if they don’t, it can export a large number of file formats to satisfy any need. This software works seamlessly with all of our in-house equipment and makes the transition from CAD to physical models and beyond very efficient.

Computer Numerically Controlled Machining is a methodology that has been around for more than 40 years. Today, CNC is also referred to as "Subtractive Rapid Prototyping." Once reserved for high end, high-precision aerospace industries, the technology has been brought into Anza's product development shop to be an option for model making or short run production processes. The benefit of CNC is its ability to cut modelsprototypes quickly from "real" engineered plastics, metals or other model oriented materials. For material specific needs, CNC is just about the only option. For example, if a mechanical part is specified to be 6061 aluminum then this actual material can be used to create the part. The same is true for an engineered resin such as UHMW. However, engineered metals and plastics are not the only area this process excels. In design development, it is common to need a quick “form study”. In these cases, “rigid model plank” can be cut very quickly. Depending on the need, materials from 10lb density to over 40lbs are used to create shapes for design evaluation. A typical case would be a personal care product such as a shampoo bottle. There may be as many as 50 design concepts; they all hold shampoo but they all look very different. CNC is a good choice to economically create these forms for design evaluation. Another industry that uses CNC quite often is the metal casting and roto-molding industries. In both cases, robust patterns are needed to make molds from. More rigid materials, like 42lb model plank, are a good choice for this application. Anza's CNC capabilities include cutting materials dry up to 4’ x 8’. Or in fully enclosed machining centers allowing for appropriate fluid assist for chip removal and cooling of the cutter bits. Cutting wet, the maximum size is 20” x 40”.

Urethane casting is the quickest and least expensive way to generate low volumes of highly functioning parts. In many cases, urethane can mimic injection molded components very closely or even replace it altogether. This process is used for many reasons; some of which include: Speed: when there is little time to generate fully functioning parts Quantity: there is no justification for hard tooling As bridge tooling until injection molding is ready When required features are cost prohibitive to replicate using injection molding such as near hollow internal features like wire chases JIT ordering systems that require smaller quantities with longer periods of restocking in-between. JIT in combination with urethane casting reduces cash out of hand. Required inserts have great variance in dimension or a high degree of complexity that rigid tooling could never conform to Part configurations change quickly therefore the need for retooling is frequent; such as the case with production “pucks”. Although the process is simple in principle, a successful urethane program is a balance of mechanical aptitude, knowledge of chemistry and experienced artistry. There are choices to be made for the resins and mold materials, for fill and vent locations, for core and part line placement and more. Anza has the experience to make the correct decisions and create the parts your project needs on a timely basis.

Conventional model making and the model makers who perform this invaluable service are an essential component in the realization of ideas and concepts. The high technologies that we employ today: SLA, FDM, CNC, SLS, etc, have allowed for unprecedented speed and accuracy for model creation. However, none of these processesmachines can do anything without a model tech “telling it what to do”. People are the foundation for successful model making and the staff at Anza has the utmost skill in building models. As good as the technologies are today, it still takes finesse, experience and skill of a craftsman to apply the finishing touches.

Vacuum forming is when a sheet of plastic is heated to a forming temperature, stretched onto or into a single-surface mold, and held against the mold by applying vacuum between the mold surface and the sheet. Anza has been providing this service for many years. We have the capability of designing the parts, designing the moldsfixtures and forming the parts. Multiple machines allow us to make very small parts using material thickness as thin as .01” to as big as 4 foot square and forming up to ¼” thick material. We can provide secondary operations also: CNC routing to help trim parts and CNC machining to provide through-holes, slots, scores, etc. Small prototype quantities to several hundred have been accomplished. We have made blisters, clamshells, J-Packs and point of purchase displays serving industries such as: personal care, food and beverage, signage, display, medical, industrial, commercial and medical. Our clients that have low annual usage take advantage of JIT ordering to minimize inventory on the shelf and keep out of pocket cash at a minimum.

We have a “no-nonsense” approach to design. As one of our client's has stated "You guys really get it done." We take the mystery out of product development. In broad terms, we use a four step process: listen, conceptualize, refine and finalize. You know your needs; we will listen to them and apply them during the conceptual phase. These are presented to you for evaluation. If there’s a concept (or more) that you feel fits the need then we can refine it further. Again, you will evaluate for approval to move forward to finalization. The process is in your hands; our role is to help you take the ideas and bring them to life

“Color Correct Comps” is a specialty service that Anza has provided for more than 20 years. A “comp” is term used to describe a specific model type where the primary focus is on brand, image, color and graphics but the underlying form they’re applied upon also affects their presentation. The resulting need is a model that accurately represents the graphics as well as the underlying form. These models are also used in focus groups for evaluation of the overall design. Accuracy is necessary so that the model being presented does not sway the reviewer, which is usually a “typical” consumer. If there are any areas that are not clearly defined by the model then the imagination of the consumer fills in the gaps and the results of the focus group may be misleading. It takes skill, experience, and patience to be able to build models at this level of near perfection. We can almost guarantee that if you watch TV during the evening, you’ve seen our work.

Wikipedia does a good job of defining Rapid Prototyping (RP):”Rapid prototyping takes virtual designs from computer aided design (CAD) or animation modeling software, transforms them into thin, virtual, horizontal cross-sections and then creates each cross-section in physical space, one after the next until the model is finished. It is a ‘what you see is what you get’ process where the virtual model and the physical model correspond almost identically. With additive fabrication, the machine reads in data from a CAD drawing and lays down successive layers of liquid, powder, or sheet material, and in this way builds up the model from a series of cross sections. These layers, which correspond to the virtual cross section from the CAD model, are joined together or fused automatically to create the final shape. The primary advantage to additive fabrication is its ability to create almost any shape or geometric feature.” There are a large number of bureaus that provide these services. In one respect, the “automation” of model building has created many similarities between the service providers. All of the equipment is essentially the same; just at a different location. The processes available are the same: SLA, SLS, FDM, DDM, 3DP, EBM and more. The file format directing the equipment is the same: STL files. So what sets a company apart from the others? The answer is: the staff. Are they knowledgeable? Are they reliable? Are they cooperative? Are they available to answer questions about your project that’s mid-stream? Have they asked you what the needs are or did you get an on-line quote with no input other than an algorithm? Is there a high level of dedication to your project? Is there a person to get the job done? With Anza, the answer is simple: “Yes.” We provide value well beyond the building of your STL file. Anza has been providing all types of RP for many years. In addition to our in-house equipment, we have taken the time to evaluate service providers and have secured affiliations with selected partner bureaus. This allows us to take advantage of every RP process that’s available not just the processes that are captive.