Link: RedEye RPM - Case study on BMW .
To improve productivity, worker comfort, ease-of-use, and process repeatability, the plant uses FDM to enhance the ergonomics of its hand-held assembly devices. The freedom of design allows engineers to create configurations that improve handling, reduce weight, and improve balance. According to Schmid, “The tool designs we create often cannot be matched by machined or molded parts.”
In one example, BMW reduced the weight of a device by 72 percent with a sparse-fill build technique. Replacing the solid core with internal ribs cut 1.3 kg (2.9 lbs) from the device.
“This may not seem like much, but when a worker uses the tool hundreds of times in a shift, it makes a big difference,” says Schmid.
Another advantage of direct digital manufacturing is improved functionality. Sinc the additive process can easily produce organic shapes that sweep and flow, the tool designers can maximize performance while improving ergonomic and handling characteristics.
“The layered FDM manufacturing process is well suited for the production of complex bodies that, when using conventional metal-cutting processes, would be very difficult and costly to produce,” says Eidenschink. An example is a tool created for attaching bumper supports, which features a convoluted tube that bends around obstructions and places fixturing magnets exactly where needed.
