TactoTek, the Finland-based company that develops, industrializes and licenses in-mold structural electronics (IMSE), and Lightworks GmbH, a leading automotive lighting design and engineering consultancy, have announced a collaboration on in-mold lighting solutions. Together, the two companies will accelerate the development and use of in-mold lighting for styling and function for vehicle interiors and exteriors.
“Lighting is a prominent feature in over 95% of our customers’ IMSE solutions. From styling to status indicators and dynamic operator alerts, we’re seeing incredible design creativity and high-value solutions for users. Lightworks combines a deep understanding of their customers’ preferred styling, aesthetics and design language, with the illumination design and optical engineering expertise to create lighting solutions that complement that vision,” noted Dave Rice, senior vice president of marketing and business development at TactoTek.
In TactoTek IMSE solutions LEDs and the circuitry that drives them are molded inside of the plastic that is the structure of the part. The result is very thin, seamless components that can conform to complex shapes and are efficiently mass produced.
Michael Höfgen, founder and CEO of Lightworks, stated, “Light as part of automotive user experience is more important for styling and function than ever before. The huge benefit of IMSE is the technology’s fusion of dynamic lighting with highly decorative surfaces and HMI functionality in 3-D structures as thin as 2mm. We can enhance many of our illumination package designs with IMSE elements.”
TactoTek is building a partner program with industrial design and engineering companies serving automotive, smart home/IoT, appliance and other markets so design experts can enhance their solutions with IMSE technology.
