Next-Generation Tooling & Mold Production

Part of East/West's production includes the manufacturing of sheet metal parts. One particular customer order required the use of a milled forming die. However, the die was damaged shortly before the job was due to start. As East/West's machine shop was already busy producing parts, a new die could only have been manufactured externally, which would have jeopardized the customer's delivery deadlines. Even if the machine shop had sufficient capacity, a new die would require the purchase of tool steel and time to machine the complex die shape, which would also jeopardize the delivery schedule.

Michigan-based Prefix Corporation is a leader in the development of prototype designs, mock-ups and concept validation for the automotive and aviation industries.
Prefix uses this expertise to help businesses assess the feasibiity of emerging technologies, gauge customer interest and prepare for production. A Prefix customer needed a tooling fixture used to apply automotive decals redesigned due to several problems inherent with the existing configuration. The original tool was a multi-piece assembly made up of machined aluminum and nylon, making it sub-optimal.

Located in the heartland of British motor racing and Formula One, Silverstone Composites Ltd, is a solutions provider with industry expertise in the design and manufacture of carbon fiber. With a wide range of customers in different industries, Silverstone Composites must adapt to the often-meticulous demands that are required, specifically in Formula One. Challenges with traditional production methods included production of mandrel tooling was not viable as it could not be extracted from the composite pipe

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $79 billion in net revenue in 2021, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Contract manufacturing — especially for smaller operations — is a game of profitable job portfolio management. The margins between competitive and non-competitive, successful, and unsuccessful are thinner than the metal chips the machines throw. Optimiz3D saw the opportunity to transform traditional contract manufacturing by integrating highly productive Additive Manufacturing into their process – enabling low-overhead, fast response and flexible manufacturing.Their goal was to maximize productivity and yield while also producing high-quality parts in less time with high machine utilization.

The Wilson R&D team was looking for more effective means to produce prototype injection mold tooling for a line of youth baseball bat handle.
To implement these design changes within an existing baseball handle, the product development team was in search of an alternative prototyping process to significantly reduce the time it takes from “art-to-part”. Straying away from their traditional metal tooling methodologies, the team dove head first into redesigning this baseball component using 3D printing as the sole means towards producing this mold.

SPT Vilecon is a fully integrated provider of development and manufacturing services for the medical device industry, working at the interface of design, development, and manufacturing to enable customers to bring a new product from concept to commercialization. Manufacturers of medical devices must meet strict regulatory requirements. They develop sophisticated test protocols to demonstrate the safety and efficiency of their devices. Tests should be conducted early on to identify potential issues and reduce costs for rework. SPT Vilecon works with silicones, which are commonly used in the medical device industry. However, silicone parts are difficult to prototype and test as they need to be manufactured using injection molding to achieve their full performance.

Fraunhofer IFAM – an institute in the renowned Fraunhofer Society – is a recognized leader in the field of Metal Injection Molding (MIM), and is serving companies in the aerospace, energy, maritime and other demanding industries. In metal injection molding (MIM), metal powder is mixed with a plastic binder to create a feedstock that is then injected into a metal mold. The abrasive nature of the feedstock places high demand on the quality of the tooling, and the complexity of the MIM process typically results in the need for multiple iterations. Fraunhofer wanted to offer companies a path to quickly and cost-effectively test new concepts and turned to Nexa3D® and Freeform Injection Molding to provide a solution.

PAKT3D works in partnership with its customers to provide streamlined and efficient manufacturing, design and engineering AM processes. It gives its customers independent advice based on their needs using its extensive sector knowledge. Typical challenges PAKT3D’s customers suffer include long lead times, low quality and costly processes. These are common in engineering, design and manufacturing firms when producing components, mold tools, tooling and prototypes. In addition, many businesses are under time pressure and require a combination of high-speed manufacturing and design agility for their business to remain competitive. These challenges have triggered companies to look at new methods of manufacturing, such as 3D printing, as a solution.

Alpine Advanced Materials, a leading expert in the design and manufacturing of custom-engineered parts for the world’s most demanding aerospace, defense, energy, space, and transportation applications, sought to overcome the challenges associated with traditional metal parts. For Alpine Advanced Materials, the conventional injection molding approach required significant upfront investment in permanent steel tooling, hindering the ability to rapidly produce prototype parts for testing and validation in key high-performance materials like HX5®, a multi-scale reinforced polymer with exceptional performance over a wide range of temperatures and extreme environmental conditions. Additionally, standard 3D printing had proven too costly and it couldn’t withstand the high molding temperatures of their composite polymers.

Complexity is a cost driver in manufacturing processes. Manufacturers have turned to additive manufacturing to simplify the production of complex objects. The flange wheel presented additional challenges due to its design complexity and the goal of replacing metal with a carbon-filled PEEK, a difficult thermoplastic to prototype. In the manufacturing of PEEK parts, process parameters need to be tightly controlled to achieve target performance, and Liebherr worked with Aitiip to develop and verify a manufacturing process that would meet the following requirements:

• High-speed manufacturing process that will lead to 30% cost reductions
• Recyclable materials
• Light-weighting – with a goal of reaching a 40% weight reduction
• One-shot manufacturing