Christian Tse, an award-winning fine jewellery designer and manufacturer based in California, USA, introduced an all-new robotic polishing system at his jewellery production facility. In a unique partnership with the engineering team at Flexible Robotic Environment (FRE), the custom VDK-2300 system has been in development since April 2021 and was recently launched at the Christian Tse Design & Manufacturing (CTD&M) factory.
The system can polish most rigid jewellery designs like rings, earrings, hard bracelets, pendants, and brooches. It requires low human interaction, thereby solving workforce challenges like retention and availability of skilled craftsmen. Specialty fixturing and multiple tool changers allow the VDK-2300 system to process nearly the whole gamut of metals used in fine jewellery today.
Christian Tse posing with the new robotic polishing system at his jewellery production facility.
Christian Tse said, “Our new robotic polishers allow optimal efficiency and cost-savings for the fine jewellery brands we manufacture for. We worked closely with the team at FRE to develop a highly customised, automated tool, that has yielded the most powerful, flexible, and user-friendly jewellery processing system in the world today. These new robots will save our clients labour costs, and the automated precision will ultimately create a better finished product for the fine jewellery consumer.”
Vojislav Kalanovic, PhD and President of FRE, added, “The VDK-2300 system is a game changer for fine jewellery manufacturing. As the company who commercialised robotic jewellery processing, we were the perfect partner for Christian Tse. At Flexible Robotic Environment, we have a full offering of automated jewelry processing solutions, and Christian’s vision of the future of manufacturing inspired us to create one of the most flexible and capable jewelry polishing systems ever. We are thrilled to have been a part of it, and we are excited to see where Christian and his team will take us next!”