Diversified Plastics, Inc. Earns Carbon Production Network Certification

Diversified Plastics (DPI), a custom plastic-injection molder and digital manufacturer of high-precision components, has earned its certification as a Carbon Production Network (CPN) partner. Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) technology gives DPI the ability to offer customers production-quality end-use parts without the added time and cost of tooling, the companies report. The Carbon certification process included an online academy and hands-on advanced training. As one of the first plastic injection molding companies to become a certified Carbon Production Partner, DPI is one of only 14 certified partners in the United States and one of 20 worldwide.

During training, DPI’s additive manufacturing team learned how to identify applications that are ideal for Carbon’s DLS technology. Carbon’s education group is continuously updating their training programs so that production partners always have the most up-to-date information and resources. Carbon production engineers also provide ongoing training and work with certified partners on site as needed. 

“It’s important that our certified CPN partners have a comprehensive knowledge base. Certified partners have our full trust that they can produce quality parts,” says Dana McCallum, head of production partners for Carbon. “Diversified Plastics is the gold standard of certified partners. We have been very impressed by how engaged their entire team has been throughout the training process.”



Image courtesy of Diversified Plastics/Carbon.

DPI started training with the 150-module online Carbon academy in October 2018. Initial hands-on training was conducted at Carbon’s headquarters in Redwood City, CA. When DPI’s three Carbon printers, two washing stations and oven were installed in December, Jon Danckwerth, Carbon’s production partner program manager, led training at DPI’s facility. DPI’s core additive manufacturing team that received training included Adam Davis, additive manufacturing engineer; Gelaye Disasa, process engineer; Alexander Cromett, technical support engineer; Mike Bartell, tooling design and engineering manager; Ray Schenk, senior sales engineer; and Mark Gremmels, director of operations. Additional training has been completed by DPI’s quality and sales team.

“An important thing we learned is how much design and engineering goes into the front end,” says Davis. “During the training, we printed a variety of parts with different geometries, each from a different resin. When completed, the parts are submitted to a panel at Carbon for review.”

Carbon’s DLS technology manufactures non-porous parts, comparable to thermoplastic injection molding, using a wide selection of engineering-grade materials customized for mechanical properties, surface finish and stability.

Digital manufacturing is backed by DPI’s in-house design for manufacturing assistance, inspection, injection molding, cleanroom assembly and packaging expertise. Carbon allows many parts, including some previously unmanufacturable, to be produced economically. Precision components are manufactured without creating molds.

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Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.