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Automotive Industry

Among the innovative at IMTS - Produce - International Manufacturing Technology Show

Automotive Design & Production, Nov, 2002 by Gary S. Vasilash

Here's a look at a few key developments displayed at the 2002 International Manufacturing Technology Show that should make parts production faster, better, and, yes, even sometimes cheaper.

One of the more meaningful themes at the IMTS came during a presentation given by Renishaw (in the U.S., Hoffman Estates, IL), a developer of all manner of things metrological *: "When times are tough, smart companies look to innovation to increase their efficiency and maximize every opportunity."

Innovation Meets Agility

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And in many regards this sense of clever innovation was exhibited in varying degrees by some of the companies that were representing their wares at the show. On what is certainly a leading edge of this was being launched by ProMetal. In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that ProMetal president Rick Dove is (1) a former columnist for this magazine and (2) one of the founding architects of agile manufacturing. consequently, I was (1) able to ask him brutally frank questions, outside the bounds that others who haven't known him for quite as long would be inclined to and (2) he is a man who is not likely to associate himself with run-of-the-mill products, which wouldn't be in keeping with his evangelism for all things agile.

ProMetal is a division of Extrude Hone corp. (Irwin, PA). ProMetal provides a machine (or a service for those who'd rather forego machine ownership) to perform three-dimensional printing (3DP), a process that the company licenses from MIT, The "printing" in question is not like the ink on this page. Rather, it is one that replaces ink with powdered metal or ceramics and binders so that the output of the machine is actually physical parts that can measure, depending on the model of 3DP machine used, up to 1,000 x 500 x 250 mm in size (or be a series of smaller parts that fit within that envelope) and as great as 120 lb. in mass. The biggest machine is capable of producing 8,000 1-[in.sup.3] parts in 48 hours. (it needs to be noted, however, that it is necessary to sinter the parts, which melts the binder, then to infiltrate the resulting porosity with a metal.) Like contemporary printing, the basis of the design is a data file; the machine uses a multiplicity of printing heads that actually resemble the type u sed in a desktop printer.

The beauty of this process, Dove explains, is that there is the ability to actually create mass customized parts as needed much more quickly than could be attained through traditional machining operations, to say nothing of the fact that the geometries that can be realized (e.g., cavities, undercuts) may be unmachinable. When asked about competition with laser-based processes, Dove suggests that while they tend to be limited to a single laser, the 3DP process can scale with an increase in the number of printing heads.

When asked about customers, Dove is comparatively tight-lipped, referencing in passing only that General Motors is doing something with the process as it relates to the lost-foam casting process--which isn't entirely surprising, given that GM engineers, people from MIT and folks from ProMetal worked on a four-year NIST-sponsored program on that very subject.

But this isn't just about the machines. Dove and his cohorts are creating what they're calling an "Agile Rapid Production Network." Dove defines this as a network of companies all of which are interested in doing things rapidly. While other rapid prototyping firms have long had service bureaus, Dove sees this network as being one whereby they're able to provide customers with finished parts even if the 3DP process is but one of many processes involved.

More Info?

To find out more about the companies and products mentioned here, write in the following numbers an the Reader Service Card:

Renishaw: 150

ProMetal div. or Extrude Hone: 151

Liberty Precision Industries: 152

Lamb Technicon Machining Systems: 153

Deckel Maho Gildemeister [OMG]: 154

Makino: 155

Mazak Corp. 156

Toyota Machinery U5A: 157

Mori Seiki: 158

Fadal Machining Centers: 159

Sandvik Coromant: 160

Carboloy: 161

United Grinding: 162

Carl Zeiss IMT: 163

* Renishow provides a variety of probes far coordinate measuring machines; calibration systems; encoders; scanning systems; and tool presetting units.

Automotive Industry

Among the innovative at IMTS - Produce - International Manufacturing Technology Show

Automotive Design & Production, Nov, 2002 by Gary S. Vasilash

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