For the past period, the use of 3D printing has been increased in the automotive industry. There was a time when this method was used for many basic designs and tasks but now this method is used for much greater and complex works. This method in the designing department is used for making complex parts, enhancing the measurement as well as testing, speeding up the tooling cycles and offering customization solutions in the process of vehicle development. This method is helping this industry in many ways to improve, innovate, and upgrade the product. Certain benefits have helped the industry to gain momentum.
Flexibility and Optimization of Design
Among many benefits, the flexibility and the optimization of design is one of the most important benefits that this method provides. It helps in the creation of the parts varying from small to big with the help of the 3d printer and scales them up rapidly to see the flexibility and efficiency of the design. This enables the manufacturers to test their designs and models well before the final assessment. It reduces the time and length of the process as the defects and the details of the model can be assessed well before the part is used for assembling. This has benefited many multibillion-dollar car manufacturers in the market
Rapid Tooling
In the traditional manufacturing processes, the time required for tooling is almost 4 months and it takes approximately 40000 dollars to build the tooling of the scaled part. But with the help of the 3D printing method, the time has been declined to 20 days and the budget has decreased to 3,000 dollars. By designing the tools with additive manufacturing, engineers can assess the molds and determine whether it has an optimal design. Then they move ahead to create the final mold of steel.
If the tools are designed with additive manufacturing, it will result in a decrease in the budget as well as it removes multiple steps that take time. Many untold cost is also cut down in this method as compared to those in the traditional method. Due to these reasons, the concept of rapid tooling has become a major thing for the automotive industry, and this trend is expected to grow in the upcoming years.
Rapid Customization
Customization of a vehicle is a very difficult and important task for the automotive industry. It is a work that requires special attention and resources. This is a very important part of the vehicle and it attracts most of the customers. This plays a vital role in the success and failure of any automobile. Due to the traditional methods of designing and developing blueprints for the customization of vehicles, interiors of a vehicle were a difficult and hectic endeavor. Moreover, the production of interior designs for the vehicles was a costly affair for the manufacturers; particularly in low volume vehicles, the mass production of a particular feature or design proves to be expensive for the manufacturers.
But with the help of 3D printing, an economic solution has been provided to the manufacturers. This method helps in the creation of the interior in a cost effective manner plus this also minimizes the duration of the process. Hence 3D printing has been a viable solution to this particular problem of customization.
Validation and Advanced measurement
When it comes to the use of 3D printing for measurement and parts assembly, this method has vitally helped the industry. This method has developed many such tools that help the manufacturers to measure different parts with the help of only one measurement tool. The working of this tool provides efficiency to the organization as it ensures the accuracy of the measurement of the parts. The method of 3D printing has helped by not only merging the different measurement steps into one but it also helps in making the tools of measurement with the material such as rubber. The replacement of the material helps in cutting the cost used in this process. These tools have many other utilities as they are very light weighted that also helps in easy handling of the tools.
Real-World Functional Testing
This is one of the merits of the 3D printing method that had helped this sector to make the goods more efficient. With the use of FDM technology, the manufacturers can look into the design of any product in a more detailed manner and can find out if the design if viable or not. It also helps in knowing whether the design will go successfully or not. It helps in knowing the defects in the design much before the next step of manufacturing. This not only helps in marking the defect but it also helps in identifying the reason behind the defect. And this all takes place before the design is tested in the production unit. This designing method has created an impact on the whole industry s it helps in reducing the time, cost, and labor for the identification of the defect, but it also tells the reason behind the defect so that it can e removed for the proper functionality of the part. Hence this designing technique helped in recognizing the flaws in the design and suggested ways to improve them which helped the manufacturer in many ways.
The automotive sector has been the most complex and technical industry. Some many techniques and methods are used in this industry to make work effective and efficient. But with the help of the 2D designing process, there has been a revolution in this industry in every aspect. This has not only lead to a reduction in time, cost, and labor but also has helped in the creation of new and advanced products out of the industry. Moreover, the 3D printing technique is continuously helping the automotive sector to innovate and create new designs and develop customized parts so that it can meet the demand of the dynamic market. And with the help of this designing process, new designs are going to be created every day, the revolution that this process has started is just a beginning, it is going to fruit more benefits in further future.