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November 2003

Instant Manufacturing

Machines that create products directly from digital files can save hours of painstaking human labor, compress production schedules, and eliminate costly overstock.

By Ivan Amato

A boundary line of manufacturing history cuts across the factory floor of Siemens Hearing Instruments in Piscataway, NJ. On one side, skilled technicians use casting techniques, precision tools, and years of experience to craft the acrylic shells of hearing aids modeled from silicone impressions of actual ear canals.

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