3D printing puts fixtures into gear

whitePaper | January 9, 2023

Silicone rubber has many applications, from hearing aids to handles and grips on consumer goods. This report provides an overview of 3D printed tooling for silicone part production, including two part injection molds, overmolds, compression molds, and eggshell molds. These methods can be employed for the prototyping of soft silicone products, small-batch production of customer beta units, or production of custom end-use goods. A step-by-step guide is provided for producing a silicone keychain with an encapsulated Apple AirTag, employing mold design best practices from several Formlabs product design customers. We also present information about successful material workflows from Formlabs users, including silicone-resin compatibility and recommended mold releases for both tin and platinum cure silicones.

whitePaper | July 6, 2020

In a recent global survey of approximately 200 manufacturers, participants revealed a desire to realize the alluring promise of smart manufacturing. Their success hinges on three factors: their ability to identify what will improve the business and articulate the desired outcomes, select transformative technology to optimize company processes, and implement that technology to fully realize the anticipated value. This study from Plex Systems, developed with the support of LNS Research, explores common manufacturing challenges alongside evolving technology solutions, with an eye toward creating a blueprint that helps companies successfully navigate and achieve business transformation.

whitePaper | June 8, 2020

Before cobots and other fast-deployable robots, many automated manufacturing cells incorporated only fixed or dedicated tooling rather than solutions that allow for changes or updates. An advantage of fixed automation is that it allows for reliable and high throughput, but it also tends to be custom engineered towards a specific process. Any changes in the workpiece or production process often mean redesigning large sections of the fixed automation system or even starting completely over from scratch.

whitePaper | September 21, 2023

Automation is improving the overall productivity of discrete manufacturing plants and facilities, delivering a range of goods from automobiles and electronics to furniture and toys to countless other items. The complexity of coordinating personnel, work procedures, material handling, and automated equipment – all while meeting production goals – make increasing digitalization and use of data across the enterprise and in production essential. Perhaps most important is the ability to put the control engineer, line worker, and design engineer in the middle of this critical data to derive actionable insights and provide real-time decision support. The constantly growing capabilities of digital technologies are creating more opportunities for discrete manufacturers to drive increasingly reliable and more efficient operations.

whitePaper | November 28, 2022

Smart manufacturing is driving the manufacturing industry to modernize its software infrastructure. Whether you call it Industry 4.0 or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), manufacturing is in the midst of a significant transformation. A key motivation in this push to modernize is that realtime data and dynamic decision making yield meaningful performance improvements for businesses.

whitePaper | March 17, 2022

Manufacturing industry professionals must corral and understand massive amounts of data from many systems to drive operational efficiencies, higher levels of service, supply chain resiliency, and ultimately a complete view of the business. Having the ability to explore the impact of and interplay among changes in production efficiency, product quality, customer demand, and service excellence isn’t possible without visibility into data and meaningful data analytics. This “big data” approach to manufacturing operations and supply chain optimization can deliver big results and is at the heart of the digital transformation initiatives of many industrial companies.