ADVANCED MANUFACTURING NOW Joseph J. LaRussa, PE
Additive Manufacturing for Fast, Low-Cost Tooling a A
dditive Manufacturing (AM) has drawn a lot of attention for its revolutionary impact on producing mass custom- ized parts for various industries. While this impact has
grabbed headlines, there are also many behind-the-scenes ap- plications for AM that can make manufacturers faster and leaner. A popular application in the automotive industry is using AM for limited-use jigs and fi xtures. Jigs and fi xtures are used in the automotive industry for di- mensional verifi cation (coordinate measurement holding fi xtures or in-process statistical process control [SPC] gages), prepro- duction builds, product verifi cation testing, and other limited-use cases. Limited-use applications stand in contrast to production workholding where fi xtures or jigs will see hundreds of thousands of cycles of use making parts. Fixtures for these short-term needs, however, still require the same level of fabrication time and cost as production fi xtures. This results in high lead time and total cost to tool up a given program. As automotive product designs evolve, cost and timing are impacted yet again when limited-use fi xtures have to be modifi ed and/or replaced due to product changes.
AM helps mitigate the negative impact of limited-use fi xture fabrication, reducing overall costs and providing a more fl exible solution for automotive manufacturers. A recent example at an automotive lighting supplier involved a quotation for a set of off-line SPC gages. The gages would be used on a regular frequency to collect dimensional data at 15 specifi c measure- ment points on rear lamp assemblies, but not on every part made. Traditional gage makers were quoted against an AM fi xture maker and the results were surprising. The AM SPC gages were 50% lower in cost and 25% faster to fabricate than traditional SPC gages. This was mainly due to the advantage that the SPC ports could be “grown” onto the other fi xture geometry instead of fabricated separately and then assembled using traditional methods. Another benefi t of AM fi xtures is that they are faster to modify
or replace if a product’s geometry changes. When intelligently designed, AM fi xtures can be modular and the specifi c details that contact the part can be discarded and replaced with newly
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fabricated AM details. Or, an entirely new fi xture can be fabricat- ed if the geometry change is extensive, again faster than using traditional methods.
The implications for the jig and fi xture making industry is immense. In 2014, the United States jig and fi xture industry’s revenue was $8.2 billion including import and export impact (
www.researchandmarkets.com/research/thgl5t/special_die_ and). This revenue represents the total investment of OEMs in multiple manufacturing industries for jigs and fi xtures. Clearly AM fi xtures will reduce this spend, but the technology will also expand the market for limited-use fi xtures. Higher fl exibility
A benefi t of AM fi xtures is that they are faster to modify or replace if a product’s geometry changes.
of AM fi xtures will enable engineers to apply their use earlier rather than waiting for a product’s design to mature enough to warrant spending on a limited-use fi xture. AM fi xtures will lower the risk associated with using costly production tooling for preproduction builds, increasing their use and bringing back an industry niche for prototype tooling that was burdened with high costs fabricating limited-use fi xtures using production tooling methods. In cases where product geometry is stable, AM fi xtures change the game because preproduction jigs and fi xtures can be used for production and simply recycled and replaced when they reach the end of their useful lives. Jig and fi xture makers would be well-served to augment their shops with AM equipment and teach their workforce to incorpo- rate AM methods when designing limited-use jigs and fi xtures. Those that do can increase market share and profi tability in a segment where estimated gross profi t stands at roughly 24% (
www.researchandmarkets.com/research/thgl5t/special_die_ and). Engineers and program teams will benefi t from AM fi xtures on total cost, productivity, and fl exibility. They can also see the benefi ts of AM and evaluate the technology for broader use with relatively low risk.
Manufacturing Engineering/Launch Manager, North America Varroc Lighting Systems
www.varroclighting.com SME Member Since 1994
MODERN MANUFACTURING PROCESSES, SOLUTIONS & STRATEGIES
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