Direct Digital Manufacturing: Impact and Opportunity, Part 3—Bridge To Tooling

     
Direct Digital Manufacturing: Impact and Opportunity 
Part 3-Bridge to Production     
    Compliments of:      
                                    8081 Wallace Road               Eden Prairie, MN  55344           www.RedEyeOnDemand.com   1.866.882.6934 
  
By Todd Grimm  
  T. A. Grimm & Associates, Inc. 
www.tagrimm.com  
PREFACE
Direct digital manufacturing, otherwise known as rapid manufacturing, is a process that employs additive fabrication technology (aka rapid prototyping) to produce end-use items. Directly from CAD data, components are manufactured without molding, casting or machining. The impact of direct digital manufacturing is far-reaching, and the opportunities and advantages are extensive. This is why direct digital manufacturing is heralded as the next industrial revolution.
Since the earliest days of rapid prototyping, experts have envisioned the application of the technology in the manufacturing process, and the focus of this vision has been on the initial cost and time savings that are realized when tooling is eliminated. However, the relative impact pales in comparison to the wide ranging advantages that exist when rapid manufacturing is implemented.
Industry has failed to recognize many of the opportunities that direct digital manufacturing offers. Some will yield Direct Digital Manufacturing unprecedented efficiencies; some will generate annual savings that far exceed the cost of a tool; and others will "Rapid Manufacturing" has become a facilitate new methodologies that address age-old generic term that is applied to any constraints. Direct digital manufacturing will benefit nearly process that produces manufactured every discipline within a manufacturing organization, and it goods quickly. To avoid confusion, the will change fundamental business processes. When adopted Society of Manufacturing Engineers en masse, it truly will be an industrial revolution. has adopted a new term, direct digital manufacturing. The association's In this series of white papers, the often unrecognized definition of direct digital benefits of rapid manufacturing will be disclosed to reveal manufacturing is "The process of the huge potential that the process offers. Part 1 discussed going directly from an electronic, the positive impact of a newfound freedom to redesign or digital representation of a part to the alter products while in production. In Part 2, the discussion final product via additive highlighted direct digital manufacturing's elimination of manufacturing. " design constraints imposed by conventional processes. In Part 3, we investigate direct digital manufacturing's role as a bridge to production.
STATUS QUO
Bridge to production is not a technology. It is a method, tactic and strategy to overcome the time delay between the present and the anticipated date for receipt of tools or parts. Bridging the gap allows manufacturers to meet production schedules when problems are discovered or tooling is delayed. It is also an alternative for accelerating product launches or piloting new products. In each case, the goal is to use an alternative manufacturing approach that offers shorter lead times with reasonable costs.
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Although bridge to production is commonly associated with tooling, as in the often used phrase "bridge-to-production tooling," molds and dies are not the desired outcome. What manufacturers want are parts, components that can be used in their products. Whether as a short-term fix or a long-term solution, manufactures of high-volume products frequently find themselves needing rapid delivery of a small quantity of production-grade components. Without them, product launches are delayed and manufacturing comes to a grinding halt.
Another scenario is also quite common. Manufacturers whose unit sales do not number in the millions may apply a Bridge to Production: direct digital manufacturing solution as the primary production process. To avoid the investment in a steel tool Any process that overcomes the for injection molding, for example, low-volume time delay between the present manufactures use the bridge-to-production processes to and the anticipated date for accelerate delivery and lower the investment in tooling. While the pa... [download for more]