DigiWorks Web Blog

What has happened? How could we lose the process view? Specialization! Since the beginning of this century, specialization has made barriers between the different functional areas. Everyone has become a specialist. This is owing to the incredible amount of knowledge an individual must utilize in their function. What have we lost owing to this specialization? We have lost the ability to look at a problem from a broader viewpoint. This myopia, this single minded target in automotive industry created the wall between Design Engineering and Manufacturing.

What have we re-gained? Multi-functional teams can create a better product in less time and lower total cost than each of the individual groups working independently.

An example is the automotive industry which brings product, process, and production teams together at the beginning of the design phase. Equipment and part vendors, marketing, sales and distribution are also included on the team. They collaborate on each phase of the design process. A sample result of the rapid prototyping utilization: GM Canada manufactured a new sports car engine in 4 years rather than the usual 7 years. An example from a Hewlett-Packard team effort produced a new printer, conceived and brought to a high volume market in under a year from the traditional 3 year development cycle period.

“… the single most important reason for delays in production activities is the absence of multi-functional (and outsider) envisions on development projects from the start”, Quote from Tom Peters book Thriving on Chaos ­ Handbook for a Management Revolution.

One objective of DFM is improved communication, either through electronic means or face-to-face. An advantage of the flow of information from a CAD system is that the geometry is passed directly to a post processor that creates the program for a arithmetical control (NC) machine and the tooling used to verify the part is done correctly. Alternatively, the information can be passed to a rapid prototyping instrument (aka 3D Fax machine) or a simulation program to verify component design. This electronic communication can happen side by side or around the world. It helps improve the messaging between the designer, the manufacturing engineer and the mechanism operator.

Output from the CAD system can also be developed through a Computerized Process Planning (CAPP) system to create operator instructions for the rapid prototyping instrument. At Rapid Prototyping Website we can demonstrate how these may be displayed when needed at the operator’s computer or via a wireless interface to a portable device. No more lost or obsolete drawings!

A product that pulls all the information in the manufacturing knowledge base together with the other elements mentioned above with reference to Rapid Prototyping Website, achieves DFM via another acronym, CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) or otherwise CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) or else PIM (Product Information Management).

There are many products in automotive industry that provide excellent examples of this state of art combination. Visit Rapid Prototyping Website to see how the artificial intelligence and natural language are being used to simplify their use.

Technology automotive, prototyping, rapid prototyping, rapid prototyping in automotive industry, Technology

Innovate Faster. Today’s economy, more than ever, compels innovation and a rapid succession of new models in order to remain vital and profitable in the market. The aptitude to reduce development cycles and development costs can be obtained by sharing expensive engineering capabilities, and dynamic, cost-effective collaborations to design quickly and efficiently more and multiple products. Effectively using the latest rapid prototyping technology including 3D design to suit your exact needs can help produce more accurate, more complex designs at the automotive industry in shorter lead times at an average of 22% and reduce non-conformance issues up to 40% when compared to standard 2D methods.

Collaborate Better. Effective and early collaboration is absolutely critical, with up to 70% of a product’s total lifecycle costs being figured out during the early phases of product development. Having a vendor that understands the demands and challenges of the product rapid prototyping development process and is able to help meet those challenges lends itself to quicker innovation capacity and capability. Even when you are already implementing the latest CAD in-house, a professional design services firm can provide the ability to increase your powers by seamlessly integrating with your team to handle the demand with focused expertise.

Manage data Effectively. The development of new automotive industry products and methods is no easy task. A host of design, product, and process data must be captured and managed. The better managed, and more this data can be condensed into an easy-to-search repository, the higher the quality of development process that can be achieved and the more this data can be leveraged for future designs. Vital to this end is the creation of fully associative 2D production drawings, 3D solid models and additionally 3D visualizations, rapid prototyping models, BOM’s, products with several configurations and model variants, simulations and investigation reports, and project management documents such as amendment lists and drawing lists.

Manage Engineering Changes. Engineering changes naturally occur at a rapid rate during the design, assembly, and testing phases. A change to the project can affect many documents. Utilizing the latest CAD technology is able to help avoid costly mistakes by ensuring that changes made anywhere within the process automatically update all product data, including parts, assemblies, and systems drawings.

With engineering services proposed at materialise.com you can analyze the physical performance of designs through simulation to improve time to market and minimize errors later in the development cycle, conduct quick stress analyses to make sure that parts can carry anticipated loads, improve automotive industry designs by reducing weight without sacrificing strength. Collision detection can be invaluable, particularly in the engine area where clearances can be a major issue. These capabilities help reduce developments cost by decreasing the number of required physical prototypes.

At Rapid Prototyping Website we effectively harness the parametric design solutions and sound engineering principles to cut costly mistakes. Driven by passion, www.materialise.com is focused on creating long term relationships that provide value for our clients and ourselves. Please contact us if you are interested in such a partnership or any of our services.

Technology automotive, prototyping, rapid prototyping, rapid prototyping in automotive industry, Technology