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DIRECT DIGITAL MANUFACTURING PART FOUR:INDUSTRIES AND APPLICATIONS

3D PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

By Scott Crump, CEO, Stratasys, Inc. Direct digital manufacturing (DDM) is being applied in a diverse range of industries. Examples of DDM success are found in aerospace, automotive, consumer products, electronics and defense. Each of these industries, and many others, has applied DDM, and each will continue to see an increase in the number of DDM applications. Interestingly, DDM has a broader reach than just traditional manufacturing. For example, the medical and dental industries have been early adopters of DDM In some cases, traditional manufacturers may learn a few things from these non- traditional sources. By observing other industries that have adopted DDM, companies can gain insight into innovations that leverage the advantages of the process. One such example is the mass customization that makes DDM so attractive to the medical arts.To bring DDM to life, four real world examples are offered. Each application brief shows that DDM is much more than a concept or a distant vision of the future of manufacturing. “Practicing what it preaches,” the fi rst example of DDM applications comes from Stratasys’ internal use of its FDM technology. Stratasys, Inc. Stratasys has implemented many DDM operations over the past few years. Its FDM technology is used both to manufacture production parts and to make fabrication and assembly tools. The most recent application of DDM for the manufacturing of Stratasys machines was on the Fortus 900mc. In total, 32 components on this machine were manufactured with the DDM process (fi gure 1). In a few instances, DDM was used to preserve delivery date commitments, in others it was used to improve product functionality and still in others it was used to reduce manufacturing costs.Perhaps the most notable application was for the manufacturing of the display bezel on the front of the machine. Historically, this component was fabricated in sheet metal because the cost of tooling for injection molding was not justifi able for the low volume of machines that are manufactured. The estimated cost to construct molds for a bezel was nearly $100,000, and it would have taken two to three months to complete the tool making process. With DDM, Stratasys gained the advantages of a plastic component without the cost and time required for molding. The result was a part that was designed solely for form and function.The display bezel illustrates both the freedom of design and freedom to redesign (fi gure 2). Originally conceived and developed as a single piece with intricate details, it was discovered— late in the design cycle— that the single component design would create diffi culties when servicing the display panel and increase repair costs.To rectify the situation, the bezel was segmented into three separate pieces This design revision facilitates simple disassembly and dramatically reduces replacement costs. While “part consolidation” is a big advantage of DDM, the display bezel illustrates that the opposite is also true. If the bezel had been produced from tooling, it would have been prohibitively expensive to explode the single component into three pieces that required three injection molds.When asked about the advantages of DDM, the design engineering team also noted that it enjoyed the fl exibility that DDM introduced into the design schedule. Rather than working within a strict timeline with penalties for changes late in the design cycle, the design engineers found that they were continuing to modify components designs, for performance and cost, well into the product development and manufacturing cycle. These modifi cations continued beyond the 900mc product launch date. Unlike traditional manufacturing, the design is always fl uid—it is never frozen—because changes can be incorporated before each and every run of a part made with direct digital manufacturing.While a bit more mundane, an equally important DDM application is the production of fi xtures, jigs and assembly aids. The manufacturing engineering team has adopted DDM in their standard practices because it requires less effort, less time and less money. With DDM the manufacturing engineers design new fi xtures and put them into service the next day. When limited to CNC machined fi xtures, similar projects would take two to six weeks. Expediting the process, DDM allows manufacturing engineering to be much more responsive to the needs of the manufacturing fl oor.Another important factor is that the DDM solution demands less time and effort from each manufacturing engineer. If fabrication and assembly tools were machined, the engineer would invest signifi cant time to document a part in a detailed CAD drawing, solicit quotations for the machining, place an order, manage the vendor and assembly the fi xture upon receipt. Using their Fortus FDM-based machines as DDM devices, fabrication and assembly tools are produced with only a few minutes of the engineers’ time.
Figure 1: Stratasys’ Fortus 900mc 3D production system. 32 components on this system were manufactured using DDM. Figure 2: Fortus 900mc display bezel manufactured on another Fortus 900mc. BMW Like Stratasys, BMW has used DDM extensively for fabrication and assembly tools. BMW’s department of jigs and fi xtures (at its AG facility) has stated that DDM is a good alternative to the conventional metal cutting

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