Empire a model in planning ahead

BUILDING AN EMPIRE: Empire Prototype Inc. serves medical-device makers and military suppliers, along with a wide range of consumer-products companies. Above, President Jason Enos at the Attleboro headquarters. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
BUILDING AN EMPIRE: Empire Prototype Inc. serves medical-device makers and military suppliers, along with a wide range of consumer-products companies. Above, President Jason Enos at the Attleboro headquarters. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

Empire Prototype Inc. President Jason Enos picked an exciting time in the field of prototyping to go into business for himself.
A master model maker at Pawtucket toymaker Hasbro Inc., Enos founded Empire in 1999 as rapid prototyping, a technology also known as 3-D printing or additive manufacturing, was emerging from the experimental margins to a potential market-shaper.
Rapid-prototyping machines translate digital designs into 3-D objects that companies previously employed workers like Enos to model by hand in order to test them and eventually send them off to be manufactured.
The technology presented both a challenge and opportunity for Enos, who didn’t have a software or electronics background, and was working out of a small shop in Berkley, Mass.
But Enos decided early on that his prototyping business would embrace the new technology and purchased his first 3-D printer in 2000 before the machines started generating hype.
“In 2000, before people knew what 3-D printing was, it was all about making the models by hand,” Enos said. “We were trying to figure out a competitive edge and it turned out to be embracing new technology. We were the first shop in the area to embrace rapid prototyping.”
Now that 3-D printers are common equipment in design shops, machine shops and numerous businesses, Enos’ decision to invest in them has paid off.
As the years went by, rapid-prototyping technology became faster, cheaper, better understood and capable of making higher-quality, more-complex pieces in materials other than plastic.
Many model parts or products can be produced more consistently on a printer than by hand, and while the machine is applying layers of polymer to build the piece, Enos can be doing something else.
From Berkley, Enos moved Empire to a 20,000-square-foot facility on East Street in Attleboro to be closer to Rhode Island, where most of the skilled craftsmen he wanted to hire lived.
Many of the new company’s orders came from Enos’ old employer, Hasbro.
Along with new rapid-prototyping machines, Empire invested in new computers to keep up with the processing power needed to deal with designs being manipulated entirely in the digital realm.
Yet, while use of rapid prototyping was essential to Empire’s growth, Enos said the company is much more than a 3-D printer factory churning out models from computer files. Empire’s design, engineering and model-making capabilities provide a kind of one-stop shop for companies looking to move a project from concept to prototype to mass-production ready.
“We’re very agile and if someone is up against it for a device they are developing that needs to be turned around in one or two weeks, our company can be an emergency room environment,” Enos said. “We have in-house design and don’t outsource anything.”
And certain things are still better made by hand or a Computer Numerical Control machine.
“Why simulate something when machining the real thing is cheaper,” Enos said.
In the early years of Empire, the relationship with Hasbro meant toy prototypes made up a big part of their production.
Now the company also serves medical-device makers and military suppliers, along with a wide range of consumer-products companies and even small, independent entrepreneurs with a raw idea they are trying to turn into a product.
As it turns out, making toy prototypes is often more difficult than medical, military or consumer products because of their complexity, Enos said.
Empire also does small-batch manufacturing, typically runs of less than 500 units, and is nearing completion of ISO certification.
3-D printers are most closely associated with plastic, but Empire has the machines to work on a variety of metals.
Before he became a model maker, Enos was into cars, and a corner of the Empire shop features custom race-car fabrication.
Looking ahead, Enos said he is eyeing a type of advanced rapid-prototyping machine that used to cost more than $1 million, but has come down in price by more than half to an area where it could return the investment.
And the company is holding an open house to show customers and potential customers its capabilities.
With 3-D printers becoming more common, Empire could soon face more competition.
Despite the challenge, Enos is confident in the value of his company’s diverse set of skills.
“There will always be a need for what we do,” he said. “These are not machines that fit into [every] office environment.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
Empire Prototype Inc.
OWNER: Jason Enos
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Rapid prototyping
LOCATION: 217 East St., Attleboro
EMPLOYEES: 30
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1999
ANNUAL SALES: NA

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