PrintOur own customer strategy VP, Aaron Johnson was invited to conduct a deep dive webinar with Wearable Technologies’ Christian Stammel on micro molding for WT Europe. In the webinar, Johnson fielded frequently asked questions.
WT Webinar: Miniaturization and Micro Molding
Full Interview Transcript
Christian Stammel:
Ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome to our WT Studio live talk.
Christian Stammel:
Today, we are talking about how we could drive miniaturization to the next step. What is the future of miniaturization? And, it’s a great pleasure to welcome today, the world’s leading company in micro molding, Accumold. A longterm partner of WT ecosystem and it’s a great pleasure to welcome today Aaron Johnson.
Christian Stammel:
He’s the vice president of marketing and customer strategy of Accumold. Aaron, thanks for joining us. Welcome to the WT studio instead of being together on a stage, we do it now virtually but we will have a lot of viewers and I hope, a lot of interesting thoughts and questions afterwards.
Christian Stammel:
Aaron, welcome and thank you for being us.
Aaron Johnson:
Yeah. Thank you for the invitation. It is great to be with you, even if it is a little virtual. So, it’s good to see you and to hear and to hear ya. We miss seeing you guys and certainly participating with the events, but we certainly love talking about wearables and the future of technology. So, thanks for having us.
Christian Stammel:
And, the future of miniaturization, that will be your major topic. So, Aaron, a pleasure for our viewers now if you share with us your screen, and then you present your slides and afterwards, we will go in an easy F&A, frequent asked questions topic.
Aaron Johnson:
Good. So, can you see my screen okay?
Christian Stammel:
Yes, everything is good.
Aaron Johnson:
Excellent. So, we certainly love talking about miniaturization and if you’ve been in technology for a while, I like to start with this kind of screen, this idea, this graphic. I joined the cell phone market maybe in the second phone, the gray flip phone, but back in the mid 1980s, when Motorola had first released their gray brick cell phone, it was giant. You could see there, it took two hands to use. It only made phone calls. And, we think about the progression of where we’ve seen with miniaturization.
Aaron Johnson:
There was this huge trend to make things smaller and smaller and smaller. In fact, I remember somewhere in the late nineties, early two thousands, having a phone that was maybe only four or five centimeters tall. And, that was, “Ooh, we’ve got this really, really tiny thing.” And, then they started getting bigger again. And, it seems for the moment, at least they’ve plateaued. And, but that’s really only the form factor on the outside. And, if you look just over the last five or six, seven years of just this particular market, not only have they got more sophisticated, the form factors on the inside is where really a lot of the pressure is how do we do more in the same space?
Aaron Johnson:
And, that comes through a variety of technologies, but it’s this demand for smaller, faster, lighter devices that can do more. And, not only is it more on the outside, smaller on the outside, it’s do more on the inside while you’re kind of shrinking that altogether. So, when we talk about miniaturization, there’s really kind of two paths here, is there’s the general concept of how do we get there? And, then I want to talk about our specific part as, as you mentioned, Accumold we focus on miniaturization through microplastics. And so we’ll, we’ll talk a little bit about that too, but I think there’s a good parallel if you’re looking to miniaturize and seeing some of the roadblocks that might be getting in the way.
Aaron Johnson:
When we’re on this path, you’re designing new products, there’s this idea that you have. Certainly, the road looks bright and shiny ahead. You know that you’ve got this idea that people will resonate with, or at least you think you do. And, so we have this path, but just like this kind of picture here depicts, we can see the end. We can see the sunshine. We know where we’re headed, but there are bumps and turns and twists that get in the way of innovation. And, sometimes it’s a competitor that beat you to the punch. Sometimes we just can’t figure out that next technological step. And, sometimes it’s the systems that are around us, the systems that we’re used to working with, that get in the way.
Aaron Johnson:
And, so I want to kind of share a couple of stories around that idea that might unlock maybe some of the roadblocks you might be experiencing when it comes to the pathway of innovation with your own product development. And, Christian, really, this is an interesting story because I tell this story a lot. And, it coincidentally happened at one of the events I was at with WT in San Francisco.
Aaron Johnson:
I was at my stand, we were talking to different folks that were coming around and I happened to hear a conversation in the stand next to me. And, the guy was just sharing a story and he was lamenting of the fact that he was struggling to get his product developed. And, what I overheard him saying was, well, the contract manufacturer that he was working with was telling him that it wasn’t possible. And, based on what I heard, I was over in the corner saying, “Ooh, pick me. I know what you’re talking about. I do think it’s possible. And, somehow there’s a disconnect there.”
Aaron Johnson:
And, so what we have found often that the roadblocks to innovation sometimes are within, some things that we can control we just don’t know it. And, so it’s just an opportunity to maybe look at the solution or the problem in a slightly different way. Which often means you might have to say to your supply chain or to a partner that you’re working with, “Hey, I think there’s a solution here. We need to figure out a way to do this.” And, so it’s really an encouragement to kind of, when you get stuck, figure out if there is a way around it and oftentimes, or at least what we find in micro molding, what you thought might not be possible might perhaps be.
Aaron Johnson:
So, as we look about the challenges of innovation, one of those enabling technologies is injection molding, micro molding, right? So, there’s a form factor piece to this. But what we found is that the general challenge is, is trying to stuff more in that suitcase for your holiday, than the form factor really allows. But, that is really what’s happening here. We don’t want, or can’t shrink, let’s say a medical device, like a transcatheter tube or something that has a very specific size, but you want to do more in that space. You want to have better deployment of a surgical device or drug delivery, or what have you. Or perhaps it’s a wearable as something that you’re trying to do some diagnostics with, but it needs to fit within the form factor of let’s say a hearing device or a watch or something that we’re already used to wearing.
Aaron Johnson:
Or maybe perhaps you’re just looking for something that’s going to be more discreet. You’re running into this challenge is, “How do I do everything in the same small space?” And, that trend really isn’t going away. We’re finding more and more interests of how do I make these form factors smaller and smaller and smaller? Now, of course, the infrastructure, the plastics, the structures themselves are not the only challenge. You certainly have the electronics pieces. You have connectors, you have software, you have a memory, you have battery and data and energy storage, and all of those pieces are competing with this miniature space. And, so trying to get them all to work together, it can be a big challenge.
Aaron Johnson:
So, that’s where I really want to talk about one of what we feel is a premier enabling technology in the area of a miniaturization and that’s micro molding. And, in a lot of ways, it is injection molding. It’s the concept of creating a shape in a hardened steel tool. You fill it with molten plastic, it forms a shape, it opens up and you have this hardened piece. But, really when it comes to micro molding, and maybe why there’s a challenge or a roadblock when it comes to innovation, especially with warm factors, is that micro molding is kind of a niche within itself in terms of its place in the world of injection molding.
Aaron Johnson:
It’s not just big tooling made smaller. It’s just not a smaller press. There’s a complexity in order to really push the limits when it comes to form factors feature performance and what have you, that this is where we find a lot of customers. And, I think the gentleman that I overheard talking next to me, is that their current supply chain maybe just isn’t used to having. And, so they’ll say, “Well, that’s too small,” or “That’s too complex,” or “Those tolerances are what we’re used to.” And, it just doesn’t fit what they’re they’re looking to do. And, so sometimes you have to reach outside of that supply chain and find these partners that come along.
Aaron Johnson:
95% more of the customers we work with already either have their own molding or a partner they do molding with, but we come along and kind of partnering with that in these, what we call critical components. And, so when it comes to micro molding, the easy rule of thumb is if your supply chain is kind of rejecting it. That’s probably a good start that there might be something more special about the product draft. But, how do you really define it then in terms of what is it compared to a standard molding?
Aaron Johnson:
Well, we’ve come to define micro molding and kind of one of three ways, certainly micro in size is a big part of that. One of the smallest parts of the mold is under a millimeter in size. So, you’re certainly dealing with small sizes. But, then it’s also could be small features what we found in some of the larger parts that we mold, maybe there are three or four or five centimeters in size, but there’s micro features to them. Micro fluidics, let’s say for diagnostics or some other application. Or an extremely thin wall application is what we’re finding in a lot of cases, whether it’s something for a wearable or a hearable or some other micro device. Thin wall applications is becoming more of interest in terms of reducing the form factor sizes.
Aaron Johnson:
And, then the third way we really define micro molding is micro intolerances. As I mentioned, a lot of what we do is critical features. And, so you’re dealing with micron level tolerances. You have the smaller it gets, the smaller those tolerances often go. So, sometimes you could be dealing with a micron level tolerances.
Aaron Johnson:
One of the largest and fastest growing market sectors we find is sensors. Certainly one of the… Probably keys to a lot of wearable devices or medical devices is sensors the way for the device to see the world. Sometimes that’s through optics. Sometimes, that’s through some other environmental sensing device. Those sensing devices have to see the world in some way. And, usually it’s through the form factor. Micro holes, micro fluidics, micro optics, all of those things are playing into that, but they have to come with the level of accuracies that those sensors often require in order to kind of really be functional.
Aaron Johnson:
So, just quickly, when you look at a design for micro molding, because it’s probably one of the number one things we get asked all the time, “Well, why is this different? How do I know? How do I design for it?” And, we usually recommend start with your ideal. Start with what you believe you need. But, at the same time, it is still an injection molding process. So, if you’re familiar for design for injection molding, you still need some of the key components. You still need a gate. You still need a way to eject the part out of the mold and believe it or not, draft is still welcome. There are still some keys to that.
Aaron Johnson:
But, then as you start to push those limits is really where the expert find your expert micromolar to come alongside you and your cm or your internal engineers to say, “Okay, where can we really push those limits?” So, that’s really where we say, “Start with your ideal.” I had one engineer telling me everything that he designs is as big as his monitor, but then when you start looking at it in actual size, you start recognizing, “Oh, we’re only talking about a few millimeters of space here.” But, really the key to innovation really trying to find that next level for your own product is how do you add more value to what you’re currently doing?
Aaron Johnson:
You’re pushing your own limits. And, so therefore the limits of what the technology around you might also be pushed and trying to find the keys in order to do that. You might’ve recognized on the wall behind me, one of my favorite artists is Bob Dylan. And, he has a line from a song from the sixties that says, “Those who aren’t busy being born, are busy dying.” And, if that isn’t kind of a stark reality to the business cycle of what we’re constantly trying to do, and innovation is the key to continually being reborn, right? So, how do we get past these roadblocks in order to go on to that next step and to bring value to the customers that we’re trying to serve or the health care needs, if you think of all of the science happening right now in the world, trying to solve the COVID challenge.
Aaron Johnson:
A lot of it comes with this drive to do something we haven’t done before trying to find resources together. And, that’s kind of a big way or the macro version of what you can do as an individual, as you’re looking forward to whatever product development that you’re after. So, it’s really that start with your ideal, start with what you think you need, and then work your way to you finally hit those roadblocks.
Aaron Johnson:
There’s a major kind of world brand that has this mantra of not allowing vendors to say no, until they’re convinced that no is the right answer. And, that really kind of pushes that notion that we’re wanting them to go as far as we possibly can, whether that’s in the form factors or the software or again, the energy storage, where do all of those things come together?
Aaron Johnson:
One little quick case study that we did to kind of demonstrate where roadblocks and maybe traditional manufacturing come into play, that might stifle innovation, is the idea of thin wall applications. There’s a rule of thumb that you might’ve learned in design for manufacturing, for injection molding, or you might go to a resin supplier and say, “Hey, I’ve designed this part like the one I’ve showed here, it’s only 76 microns added specis. Do you have any materials that you would recommend that would allow me to make this part?” So, that’s what we did. We kind of did try to put ourselves in the design engineers shoes.
Aaron Johnson:
And, what we found is that all of our residents suppliers said “No.” They had no materials that they believed would be able to make this form factor. So, if I’m just a design engineer trying to design something and I don’t know what the rule of thumb is, or maybe it’s past what the textbook says, or my residents supplier says this is impossible, you might have to change your design and you might not be able to go down that ideal path to what you’re trying to provide for your next generation product. Well, that’s where that conversation comes in, because we know through our experience working with these thermoplastics for 30 plus years, yeah, not all of them are going to run that 42 to one aspect ratio, but we certainly know some will, or some will get a certain distance.
Aaron Johnson:
So, if you had a rule of thumb that says six to one or eight to one was the maximum wall thickness ratio that you should work with, you again might stifle innovation, but then you also might find you could push the limits when it comes to some of these materials. So, it’s really important that when you’re pushing limits, that you explore these with some of the experts that are out there, whether it’s the molding technology or the energy storage technology, or the sensor manufacturers, and really getting down to what is possible, what can you do? What can you put together? Because, you might just find that what you want is possible.
Aaron Johnson:
One quick other case example here is one of probably the biggest keys to weave what we find in miniaturization, especially in the wearable/hearable market and that’s part consolidation. And, maybe sometimes it’s overlooked. This is an example of a hearing aid chassis. We like to tease that we’ve been in the wearables market for 30 years long before you called a hearing aid a wearable. But, interesting as that market is transformed and really kind of fallen into that hearable/wearable market, because you have a electronic device already on on a person, why couldn’t it also do heart rate monitoring or some other sensing? And, so you have this demand and that demand requires more space, but yet the desire for hearing aids is to get smaller, not bigger, so there are these competing ideas.
Aaron Johnson:
So, we helped this customer consolidate by taking three independent pieces, making one very complex part, but it’s sharing wall stock between different components. Therefore, we actually were able to make more room on the inside by reducing some of the other plastic that was there. And, here you can see, not only is it consolidating several plastic parts, but it also has three metal components to it so the battery connectors and the screw part on the one end, all together one component, but it helped do more in less space in inside of the next generation of a hearing device at the time.
Aaron Johnson:
Just a few other examples here of what… Get involved with micro injection molding in terms of miniaturization. In the middle there, you can see one of the smallest commercial parts that we’ve produced only 800 microns at its longest feature. The example on the right is mesh over molding. So, part consolidation just doesn’t have to be plastic and metal. If it can withstand the temperatures and pressures of molding, you can over mold it.
Aaron Johnson:
So, that might spark some creativity in your design is you’re looking forward. Can it be over molded? Can it be consolidated? And, then on the left, as I mentioned, micro optics is one of the fastest growing spaces in the realm of miniaturization and certainly for wearable and other small device technology in looking for ways for sensors or for the device just to see the world. And, micro optics have some of the highest complexities in terms when it comes to feature performance tolerances, and some of the toughest parts to design. So, it definitely can be challenging the smaller you go.
Aaron Johnson:
So, really in the end, the blue sky thinking, it’s somewhat of a cliche, but what really does work in terms of when you’re trying to approach a miniaturization, making sure that you keep your ideal in mind and drive until you know that no is that answer. Don’t rest just necessarily with the supply chain that you have, you might have to have a conversation internally if you’re part of a large organization say, “Hey, I know these are partners, but I need another partner to come along because I believe we can provide a lot of value to our customers if we’re able to kind of push through this challenge.”
Aaron Johnson:
So, Big Sky Thinking, isn’t just about the product you’re developing. It just isn’t the thing that you want, where you want to go. You have to kind of use that same kind of thinking internally with your manufacturing process. You might have to go outside. And, believe it or not, just attending a conference like this, where you’re learning new things is in my mind, one of the most strategic things you can do to find out what you don’t know. And, how to apply new technologies in different ways to what you’re working towards. So, it’s really the best encouragement that I have for those that are driving their product and then certainly when it comes to miniaturization and pushing the limits.
Aaron Johnson:
30 quick seconds about Accumold if you’re interested. We were founded 1985 with a couple of guys, toolmakers, that have had a better idea of how you could make small plastic parts more efficiently than what was available on the market that day. The rest is just, as you can say, is history. We’ve spent the last 35 years enabling and helping our customers innovate around the miniaturization of plastic.
Aaron Johnson:
We are situated in the middle of the United States in Iowa. So, if you’re not familiar with Iowa, don’t worry. Most Americans don’t know where it is either. But, we’re right in the heart of the Midwest. And, from our little location here in Iowa, we have customers all over the world. That’s the nice thing about small parts. They ship nice easily and helps us support our customers really no matter where you might be situated. So, certainly if miniaturization and plastics is something that you’re interested, we’d love to talk with you. And, certainly love to share more about some of the roadblocks that you might see along the way.
Aaron Johnson:
And, just before I forget, my contact details are there below. And, then we also do have, if you are European based, good sales support in Europe. And, you can contact Petra as well. Her link is there on the screen as well. Either one of us would be a great place to start. She speaks German and French, a little Italian if you twist her arm so, way better than I do. So, we’d certainly love to chat with you one way or another.
Aaron Johnson:
So, that’s a lot to kind of throw out there. I hope that kind of gives you a few keys that we find are strategic to the miniaturization process.
Christian Stammel:
Aaron, amazing. Thank you so much. It’s always a great pleasure to look at your slides. I mean, it’s really amazing. And, I mean, Big Sky Thinking or Blue Sky Thinking, I think you are a guy, you never say no, right? So, let’s say in the first 10 minutes, perhaps afterwards, perhaps even you will come to points wherever you have to say, “Okay, it’s not possible.” But, I think to be really open minded, it’s very, very important. And, then also, I mean, talking about micro molding and miniaturization, I’ve also learned that 95% of your customers say have molding capabilities in house. So, they know exactly about what you are talking about. Then you are coming in and say, “Hey, look, guys, this is molding you are doing. And, this is molding we are doing.” And, these are totally different vaults.
Christian Stammel:
I mean, we are using perhaps the same materials, but we know exactly how to use some materials to go into a micro meter and then much less. And, what is now the common application for you in micro molding and militarization? Perhaps you could slip over to you then could, we could see you much better.
Christian Stammel:
So, we just stop your sharing. And, then we have close face to face communication again. Okay. Hi, Aaron, good to see you now. Okay. So, yeah, could you tell us a bit more about the common applications you see in micro molding and miniaturization?
Aaron Johnson:
Yeah. What I kind of alluded to in the beginning, this idea of doing more in the same space or more in less. Micro molding, micro technology, what we’re often finding is, is it’s those internal components that they’re looking to reduce. How can we make this a module within this device thinner or smaller? How can we make these sensors closer together? How can we get these connectors closer together? So, it’s housings, connectors, form factors. Then you have some of the more of the mechanical components, whether it’s switches or micro fluidics.
Aaron Johnson:
A lot of those is where the, when you start reducing just in small percentages form factors that starts to scale those pieces down like I showed with the thin wall. There is a limit. There is a too thin, but when you’re looking at how to put those together, we’re really finding that those internal components are key before you can start shrinking the outside. And, so we work mostly on the inside, hoping the inside gets smaller. I often tease if you’re a Doctor Who fan, we like to help people make the TARDIS. It’s bigger on the inside, even though the form factor is smaller on the outside. And, really the miniaturization side that we see is certainly more internal components.
Christian Stammel:
And, especially this multi-part consolidation, you mentioned, I mean, this is, I think a core element of the new driving of miniaturization for molding products. Combination also of different materials, right? I think this is a core element.
Aaron Johnson:
Yes, no, it is. And, because sometimes it can create a complexity that maybe a supply chain isn’t used to there’s pushback on that. And, that the part that I showed with the internal chassis for the hearing aid, if you’re familiar at all with injection molding, you’ve got a tool that has what we call slides and [inaudible 00:25:56] bolts. In order to make all of those shapes you have this tool that opens and closes this way. Then it has these slides and things that are going on and pretty much every direction. And, then you have those two metal inserts. That’s a really complex mold.
Aaron Johnson:
And, people might shy away from that because, well, that’s going to be a really an expensive part. And, perhaps it would be if you’re thinking about it by itself, but if you’ve just combined six parts into one, and you think about it and the total cost of what you’re trying to do from a manufacturing standpoint, sometimes you can actually save a lot of resources by doing this consolidation, creating these complex parts and perhaps have a win, win, win situation on your innovation because you’re putting all these together. But, it can be a difficult road and you have to kind of stick with it to a point to get to that success.
Christian Stammel:
I want to dig deeper exactly at the difficult road, because I mean, you’re talking about micro intolerance. I mean, we are talking here really on micro levels. What is the standard process to go in? I mean, it’s for sure a longer journey and a lot of trials, a lot of prototyping. So, what is a normal process that our viewers could understand a little bit better?
Aaron Johnson:
Right. Well, first off we love napkin sketches. Again, because it’s back to that ideal. What do you think you need in order to be successful? Sometimes when I’m at a trade event and someone will come by says, “Oh, wait, I’m not quite ready for you. I’ll send you something when I’m ready.” I say, “No, no, no. We like the idea stage because perhaps we can share things with you that you didn’t realize were possible.” I mean, I smile every time I hear one of our customers or someone at a trade event say, “Oh, I didn’t know you could do that with plastics.”
Aaron Johnson:
That’s my job. I’m trying to tell the world the story of what you can do with microplastics and then how to figure out how to integrate that in. So, it’s certainly that early conversation, that napkin sketch idea. And, then it’s really getting down to that design for micro molding. It’s a conversation. This isn’t just throw a model at the internet and then spit back the quote. There are too many things involved when it comes to pushing the limits.
Aaron Johnson:
Can you hit those tolerances? What are the other components around it going to do? Where’s the option to gate? Sometimes when you have a surface area of a part, it’s only 800 microns long, you have to think creatively how you’re going to get the material there from a processing and in manufacturing standpoint. So, this becomes a real collaboration in the efforts for the manufacturing design. So, it starts with this idea, this napkin sketch, this drawing and then moves on along until we can come up with a solution.
Christian Stammel:
So, with all these pictures in your case study about the material selection, I think this is a core element. I mean, you have an idea of perhaps which material could fit best, but even you will then try 10 different materials, right? And, look them in the microscope and look at how was the fluid going? How exact is the outcome? Could you tell us a bit more about that?
Aaron Johnson:
Yeah. So, material selection is probably one of the more difficult parts of the process because again, if you look at a data sheet on any given material, it’s processing parameters say you need a gate bigger than most of the parts we’re being asked to make. So, that’s one hurdle that a design engineer comes into.
Aaron Johnson:
Oftentimes they’re starting with material because they’re looking for the biocompatibility properties or the optical properties of something else to it. And, so then they start to hit this roadblock. So, when a customer sends us a model, the very first thing our engineers do is look at, “Hey, is this an injection moldable shape?” So, okay, yes, we open and close the mall. That’s question number one. Question number two is always what material? Because, in our minds and our experience over the 30 plus years is we do have a good idea of what materials are going to be more likely to be successful in these shapes.
Aaron Johnson:
One of the more common ones is Peek. P-E-E-K. Polyetheretherketone. Very popular in med device. They love the nerve properties of the material itself. But, if you remember from that scale, it’s down in the small scale in terms, in fact, I think it was the worst one on their aspect ratio because it’s like pushing cement. And, so you have these thin wall applications, the material that has to be compatible. So, I will say there are times when you do hit a [inaudible 00:30:25] when it comes to this material and this shape. But, what we’re able to do is kind of as you suggested, look at it from, “Okay, what about this material? What about this material?” Or, “Let’s try this material and see if it meets all of the standards.”
Aaron Johnson:
And, it is kind of a back and forth processes a little bit when especially those two don’t match when you’re starting off. So, definitely very complex requires a lot of dialogue.
Christian Stammel:
I think there’s a lot, the miracle is a bit beyond the datasheet.
Aaron Johnson:
Yes.
Christian Stammel:
And, so it’s really important to collaborate in a very, very close way than with you, I believe, to realize the micro fluid or the micro holes or the micro optics. I mean, all these things are very, very important for the future. I mean, we are in a very, very interesting, challenging, special, freaky time.
Aaron Johnson:
All the above.
Christian Stammel:
All over. Everyone has the same situation worldwide. I mean, we never had such a kind of worldwide common situation. So, what do you see as a trend in your requests you have coming from COVID? Perhaps especially in the medical wearable fields?
Aaron Johnson:
Sure. Yeah. It definitely strange times. And, we’ve been very fortunate at Accumold too. We work with a lot of medical device companies around the world. It’s part of the joy of working in this space and being able to be part of technology that helps save lives and helps make people’s lives more comfortable when it comes to medical applications and the things that we help with. Now, certainly most of what we’re working on is next generation, which means I can’t talk about it or tell about it, but I can say, during this time we have been able to partner with some of our medical device companies, they are working feverishly.
Aaron Johnson:
You hear about it on the news, how to get more of the diagnostic stuff in the field, coming up with new things in order to really kind of take what we’re dealing with today, but then it’s going to enhance everything I think, in the future. So, every everyone’s trying to do their hardest and we love participating in that space. And, we’re excited to partner with the companies that we get to work with as a small, both figuratively and literally, part of the equation as we move forward, trying to solve, not just the COVID challenge, but just medicine in general.
Christian Stammel:
Yeah. Medicine in general. But I mean, we always are happy that we could help in a way, a small piece but bringing the right people together, the viewers we have now and your capabilities. I mean, perhaps we could, could speed up the process in getting the right prediction methods for COVID and so on.
Christian Stammel:
But, what is the actual situation? So, do you support already something related to COVID? Or you can’t tell us about it? Is it hearable? A wristable? Eyewearable?
Aaron Johnson:
Well, I can say that we’re actively working with new developments and certainly as we’ve talked, miniaturization is key, and dealing with spaces that will enhance. Yeah. You put me in a tough spot, Christian.
Christian Stammel:
Okay, okay. We could stop here. Yeah. So, I mean, we could have a phone call later on, and then you could tell me a bit more, but I think we can’t share it today public. As soon as you ready to share, please then give me a call and then we do another interview where we could dig deeper into that, Okay?
Aaron Johnson:
Fair enough. Fair enough.
Christian Stammel:
Okay. Okay. So, Aaron, thanks so much for being with us. It was a great pleasure having you with us. It’s not as comfortable as normally. Having you on the stage would be much nicer and drinking a coffee after work would be more nice and a beer perhaps even later. We could dream about that at the moment, and I wish you to stay healthy and yeah, help to drive miniaturization fast forward, because it could change the whole medical device market.
Aaron Johnson:
Absolutely. And, again, thank you for the invitation. That was a kind of a pleasure to be with you today and we look forward definitely to seeing you soon in the near future.
Christian Stammel:
Yeah, for sure. For sure. For sure. And, please stay healthy. Aaron, thanks so much for being with us.
Christian Stammel:
Ladies and gentlemen, that was Aaron Johnson from Accumold. The world’s leader in miniaturization of molding products.
Christian Stammel:
So, stay tuned. What’s coming next, our next lunch talk will resume. Stay healthy outside their work on the best miniaturization optimal products in the future. And, please reach out to Accumold if you have further questions about how to miniaturize your products in the next step.
Christian Stammel:
Stay tuned, stay healthy. See you soon. Bye-Bye .