Touch International, a global leader in industrial touch screen and display solutions, has announced an expansion of the prototype and manufacturing capabilities in it’s Austin, TX Corporate Headquarters and Design Center. The new vertically integrated milling, cutting, printing, and finishing options will allow customers to streamline the product development cycle and increase time to market with American design support and quality control.
The company is nearing completion of the $1.2 million investment to build out and equip the project officially dubbed the “TI Model Shop.” The new equipment list includes 5-Axis CNC milling, large format laser cutting, sheet metal fabrication, large format 3D printing, as well as custom paint and powder coat finishing options.
“What began nearly two decades ago with touch panels and optical filters continues to evolve today. In 2020 we’re making complete touch pcs, kiosks, medical touch monitors, and so much more. Since the beginning, we’ve placed great emphasis on vertical integration in response to customer needs,” said Michael Woolstrum, CEO. “The TI Model Shop represents our continued commitment to those customers as an extension of their respective teams through collaborative engineering. This was the logical next step.”
The expansion started in Q2 2020 and plans to be fully operational by Q4 2020. The Austin team has already produced prototypes and low volume production units. The list includes custom heat sinks and housings for industrial applications, adapter plates and brackets for mounting and integrating touch displays, and various 3D-printed solutions for IoT sensor and device integration.
“We’re able to engage new opportunities with a greater level of detail, control, and speed, while also allowing customer design teams the flexibility to make revisions and improvements without losing momentum. This is especially critical for medical applications where design cycles can run long and require constant validation,” said Shaun Detmer, Director of Marketing.
“The spirit of American design and manufacturing is alive and well here in Austin.”
TI plans the continued expansion of the Model Shop to support internal product development and react to feedback from customers. 2021 Roadmap includes additional additive manufacturing capabilities, new decoration and finishing options, and new materials for processing.