Why Production Tool Building Is Important
Production tools are essential for manufacturing products. They help companies reach economies of scale & produce high-quality, reliable products. With them, your company can compete in the market.
The type of tooling needed depends on the product’s intended production quantity. There are three classifications for production tooling: prototype, bridge, and production.
Reliability
Production tool building is designed for efficiency and long-term success. The process is more complex than prototyping and bridge tools, but it is the most precise and cost-effective option for producing large parts. However, some speed bumps can affect reliability. For example, suppose the correct information is not passed from engineering to the tool makers during EVT, and the team needs to test their samples adequately. In that case, it can be challenging to achieve proper tolerances.
A key to improving reliability is ensuring that there are no weaknesses in the design of an item or component. This is often accomplished by using design for reliability (DFR) techniques. The best DFR processes involve the entire organization, including manufacturing and maintenance teams. This allows them to work together to improve product quality, reduce costs, and increase productivity. This helps everyone – production companies produce better products, maintenance teams have less to repair, and end customers benefit from the quality of their new equipment.
Cost-Effectiveness
Many factors make up the total cost of a product. These can include direct costs, such as salaries and rent; indirect costs, such as taxes and insurance; and fixed costs, such as depreciation. To maximize profits, companies need to minimize their overhead. This means finding the best ways to produce a product while making a profit.
Proper tooling is an essential part of this process. There are three classifications of tooling: prototype tooling, bridge tooling, and production tooling. Choosing the correct type of tooling for each stage can save time and money.
Prototype tools are created with 3D printing, cast urethane, or machining techniques to create low-volume test runs for your project’s design and validation phase. This can help troubleshoot and identify issues that must be corrected before building production tools. Bridge tooling is used to optimize your design for manufacturing and ensure it can be produced with high accuracy. This is a great way to reduce the risk of costly mistakes and delays in launching production.
Flexibility
There are many benefits of flexible manufacturing. These include increased efficiency, reduced production costs, and customer satisfaction that builds loyalty. Flexible production also makes adding new products to a company’s product line easier without costly changes to existing equipment.
Upgrading a job shop with a flexible system is a significant capital investment, but businesses that do so have determined that it pays for itself by providing cost savings. These cost savings come from improved efficiency, increased production output, and lower inventory levels.
A flexible manufacturing system is a collection of machine tools, parts handling devices, and a computerized control system. It can be used to produce a variety of part families in varying quantities. It can also accommodate different production speeds, which allows companies to respond quickly to changing market conditions. It’s essential to use software designed specifically for flexible manufacturing, as it can provide a customized dashboard that displays relevant data for each team in the factory.
Time-Saving
There are a lot of variables that go into making a quality product. That’s why careful attention to the design process is essential – it can save time, reduce costs, and ensure quality.
Production tools are movable working assets that a manufacturer uses to make products. These can include anything from cutting equipment to jigs and holding fixtures. They are a critical part of a manufacturing workflow and are vital to reducing cycle times.
The best way to optimize a product for tooling is through the DFM (design for manufacturing) process. This is a collaboration between a product developer and their contract manufacturer to ensure that the design meets the manufacturing process requirements.
Bridge tooling is an intermediate step between prototyping and production tooling. It allows manufacturers to test a prototype to ensure it meets specifications, fit, and function. It also allows them to save on upfront costs and manufacturing lead times by allowing them to skip the creation of a full-scale production mold.