Component manufacturing route selection tools
What software or other tools are you using/aware of (commercially available or otherwise) to assist in the decision making for choosing how to manufacture (particularly metal) components ? I'd like to find a methodical way to identify the technically most appropriate but also most cost effective method (e.g. considering part size, tolerance specifications, material/performance requirements etc. etc.). I'd like to be able to consider more recent approaches such as :
3D Metal Printing (Laser Sintering or Electron Beam melting)
Metal Injection Moulding (MIM)
Metal Die Casting / Investment Casting (potentially using 3D printing to create IC patterns to avoid high tooling cost)
Traditional CNC Machining
Sheet Metal fabrication
Any thoughts ?
Jochen, Solid Cast simulation software might help you for Metal die casting and other type of casting. I have used that for casting simulation to decide the best design and material. I have never used that for cost analysis. You can check that and see if it helps you somehow. The link is http://www.finitesolutions.com. Cheers
Strictly speaking its only through experience and by applications one can decide to go with the best method for manufacturing. An experienced Engineer at any OEM company can easily decide
I agree with Suresh, selecting the right processes for manufacturing a component is a experience-dependent activity. Take CNC machining as an example, the machining processes differs as the resources at hand varies. There are some commercial software apps that can assist this decision making activity, Siemens NX is one of such. It analyses the machining features within a component and then select the optimal machining sequences based on the knowledge you pre-imported. But, even though it gives you a production plan, you still need an experienced engineer to validate the results.
My team is working this area. One of our current research focuses is to develop a cloud-based toolkit for selecting the best manufacturing process for a given component based on the available manufacturing resources, allowing maximizing the economic and environmental expectations.
If you are interested, feel free to contact with me. We can have a look at your case and see if we can help in some aspects.
I prefer to go with CES software Cambridge engineering selector it helps design engineers involved in the development of new product for making decision over which materials and design processes to be selected.
http://www.grantadesign.com/products/ces/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHEqnBw6PTg
https://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/directories/companies/368/products/845/
http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/teaching/ces.php
I think , first you have to perform the experiments for all materials and augment the results , after that you can use Mini Tab statistical software in order to find the mean experimental value with lowest deviation comparing with the other results from other implemented methods
There are many more aspects to consider in addition to those highlighted above. What volume of parts are to be manufactured (some batch sizes lend themselves to additive manufacturing/3D printing, others would be better produced conventionally), geometric complexity and appropriateness (e.g. from your list, SLM/EBM v's Sheetmetal isn't comparable), validation/certification (e.g. aerospace, medical sectors) - could go on. Experience, and an understanding of some of the issues highlighted here, will help you.
Do you ask for scheduling software?
There are different software for that..one is easiest available is lek in software.
I think your question is very difficult to answer. For me, the method to chosse a method to make a piece are basically the experience. Also is important the number of equal pieces to make.
Functional Security pieces: forging.
Functional Complex geometry pieces: casting, machining.
Non functional complex geometry pieces: adition methods layer by layer
For Casting-Flow Cast (Good)
For CFD- ICEM, Gambit,
For Static-Ansys, Hypermesh
For Analysis- Ansys, Flent
But, As per parameter & geometry different process is there. As per process scheduling and process is there. So, cost cutting lek in software and material selection library ansys and hyper mesh. But, as per experience and geometry and analysis different software are, what you like for easy you can select that.
Manufacturing processes to make a part are not unique. Depending on what tools and machines are available, the very same parts could be made with different routes. So, in terms of CAM this would be an optimization problem with a cost function to be defined by the user. Among many design parameters the cost is very sensitive to the needed tolerances.
Metal forming and injection molding are more commonly designed by computer software however general metal removing processes are still "experienced based".
Computer based tools such as CES can help to narrow down the candidates, but in the end, the final selection is typically made by humans based on past experiences, intuitions, or general sense.
Many tools available based on Ashby Charts are used for similar purpose, Even Ashby charts can be used to arrive at possible candidate for manufacturing route..
Thanks to Alok : Ashby charts - or more precisely the associated commercial and educational software by Grantadesign - are/is very useful indeed. Here is the link for everyone else's benefit : http://www.grantadesign.com/solutions/interests.htm
You can consider from the axiomatic design and six sigma (DMAIC or DFSS) domains. There are plenty of instruments you can use.
Software usually simulates or analyzes a process. This is a very general question and it depends on the equipment, cost and skills of the workers and so on. While an engineer can produce a part with good quality and cost in one way, another engineer may produce that part in another way at a similar price. Software generally does not have the ability to predict this