techview Jay Finn
Laser Blanking Addresses Flexible Manufacturing
G
lobalization of the auto industry has put a focus on mass customization, where product variance to meet individual market needs can strain manufac-
turing capacity and resource planning. This is driving devel- opment of more ‘niche’ or customized-type vehicles that bet- ter meet the tastes of individual consumers. The drawback is that these additional models have lower production fi gures, resulting in lower volumes of individual parts, affecting the business model. The investment needed to manufacture a part can no longer be spread over a large number of parts, but has to be divided across the lower volume. At the same time, pressure to produce fuel-effi cient, environ- mentally-friendly vehicles has resulted in an increase in the use of both aluminum and advanced high strength steels (AHSS). These new materials can require modifi cations in the manufac- turing process in order to maintain quality and throughput. Although these trends add complexity to the vehicle devel-
opment process, the focus on productivity, quality, and safety continues to increase. All of this leads to the industry looking for faster, more adaptable and affordable ways to meet production. One area where companies can address these challenges is in new technologies for producing body panel blanks for forming. The traditional stamping process requires extensive die production time—taking six months to a year to develop the original forming die sets. Then, add on the tryout and modifi cation time typically required, as well as 14–16 weeks to produce the fi nal blanking die after tryout is completed. This process is lengthy and expensive. A viable alternative to mechanical blanking, and one that can shave weeks off lengthy retooling cycles is laser blanking direct from coil stock. Laser cutting has advanced to where it can be considered for both low and high volume applications, making it a cost-effective alternative to mechanical cutting of blanks. LaserCoil’s approach to laser blanking technology can process materials from 0.5 mm to 3.5-mm thick and coils up to 2.1-m wide. The original single head system cut 1.0-mm-thick materials at a straight-line rate of 2.5 m/s. New multiple-head LaserCoil machines can improve production rates by an aver-
General Manager/ Chief Technology Offi cer LaserCoil Technologies LLC
age of 85% as compared to single-head machines, making it well-suited for production runs of up to 100,000. As production volumes fl uctuate and niche models propa- gate, laser cutting offers both fl exibility and speed. Elimi- nating the need for dedicated tooling means material can be ordered and programming accomplished in less than a day—sometimes in just a couple hours. Costly changes that would take days when modifying hard tooling can be made for virtually no cost and in fi ve minutes.
Laser cutting has advanced to where it can be considered for both low and high volume applications.
In addition to the quick part changeover capability, laser
blanking from coil offers manufacturing fl exibility in other ways: Material agnostic—Equally capable of cutting traditional steel, AHSS or aluminum as tensile and yield strength has little to no impact on the cutting speed; lasers don’t get worn down by material toughness or thickness. Operational fl exibility—Requires no complex foundation
requirements. The system can be installed on a fl at fl oor with only special considerations made for overhead cranes in the coil handling area. Prototyping and development capability—Flexibility and pro- cess speed makes it easy to modify blank shapes during tryout as well as quickly to produce short runs for tryout blanks. Blank shape: Laser cutting provides the ability to design complex blank shapes without the limitations that come from hard tooling, allowing the design of near-net-shape blanks while also optimizing material usage. While laser blanking from coil may not fi t every high-
production situation, it offers the fl exibility required to meet today’s market need. It should be considered as a potential alternative for any processing solution as no matter what your production requirement, it can provide reduction in production changeover, die cost savings, and reduced time to market.
29 — Motorized Vehicle Manufacturing 2016
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