The role of collaboration in the South African tooling industry

Published ArticleThe efficient design and manufacturing of injection moulds (and other tooling), requires collaboration between multi-disciplinary, geographically separated units and companies, including the company that orders plastic parts, the ones that design and/or produce the moulds and/or mould-components, and those that use injection moulding machines to produce components. Distributed collaborative tooling design and manufacturing, while being a great concept, is still difficult to implement in today's complex environment. This is clear as more functional groups become involved in the total product development process earlier to meet time-to-market and cost objectives. Although internal design and manufacturing groups may have experience in collaborating with different degrees of success, the global trend is towards greater outsourcing of activities and inclusion of complementary organisations. The requirement for extended collaboration - the process of securely and selectively exchanging, reviewing, and managing the change of product information with other internal participants and external groups such as customers, design partners, suppliers and distributed manufacturing companies - presents huge challenges. Delivering these capabilities in today's global product development processes requires a different approach to doing business than a few years ago. Companies must be willing to share more information, which "is hard because we are competitors." The toolmaking companies' in South Africa (of which 90% are small and medium size enterprises (SMEs)) concern for success in delivering these capabilities, can also be greatly impacted by the underlying software or information technology infrastructure required for supporting the entire product development process. This article provides a perspective for SMEs and others that might participate in collaborative tool design and manufacture in South Africa today or in the future

Developing a strategy for business unit of tool & die in Volkswagen Autoeuropa

The main purpose of this thesis is the develop a strategy for the Tool&Die unit in Volkswagen Autoeuropa, to contribute for competitiveness of the factory. During my work I develop a group of KPI´s to evaluate the performance and follow the implementation of the strategy, the majority of them were implement. The KPI´s are: Absenteeism, Hours of specific training, Hours by project, project stage and overtime, Machine and Press uptime, Milestone achievement, €/project, Operative results, Index of work accidents, and medical restrictions, Costs of non-quality, NC´s per stage, AK and BK per stage, Superficial report and Additional work

Applications of AM

In this chapter, three strategic domains of Additive Manufacturing application are presented: tool making, medicine and transportation, with main benefits and results obtained by application of AM. Chapter presents some of on-going or already finished project from mentioned AM application fields

Correlation between machining direction, cutter geometry and step-over distance in 3-axis milling: Application to milling by zones.

Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) occupies an increasingly important role in engineering with all it has to offer in terms of new possibilities and improving designer/manufacturer productivity. The present study addresses machining of free-form surfaces on a 3-axis NC machine tool. There have recently been a large number of studies devoted to planning tool paths on free-form surfaces with various strategies being adopted. These strategies are intended to increase efficiency by reducing the overall length of machining. Often, the choice of the cutter is arbitrary and the work focuses on planning. In order to boost productivity, the present work offers assistance in choosing the cutting tool, the machining direction and cutting by surface zones, adopting a milling strategy by parallel planes. To do so, a comparison is made between milling using a spherical end milling cutter and a torus end milling cutter with the same outer radius. This comparison relates to the radius of curvature of the trace left by the cutter at the point of contact between the tool and the workpiece in relation to the direction of feed motion

Metal Additive Manufacturing – State of the Art 2020

Additive Manufacturing (AM), more popularly known as 3D printing, is transforming the industry. AM of metal components with virtually no geometric limitations has enabled new product design options and opportunities, increased product performance, shorter cycle time in part production, total cost reduction, shortened lead time, improved material efficiency, more sustainable products and processes, full circularity in the economy, and new revenue streams. This Special Issue of Metals gives an up-to-date account of the state of the art in AM

Framework proposition and technical guidelines for manufacturers of custom made tools, machinery and special equipment

U radu se daje pregled najnovijih dostignuća u modernim oblicima organizacije, suradnje i fleksibilnosti, trendovima i predviđanjima u automobilskoj industriji kao reprezentativnom kupcu alata, strojeva i specijalne opreme, kao i upravljanje vijekom trajanja, održivosti i mogućnosti stvaranja nove vrijednosti u tim industrijskim sektorima. Na temelju toga predlaže se okvirno načelo nazvano "pametni alat, stroj i specijalna oprema". Daje se dio istraživanja provedenog na slovenskim proizvođačima kod kojih su prepoznati tehnološki indikatori važni za implementaciju predloženog načela, te su rangirani u skladu s njihovom važnosti. Daju se i dodatne primjedbe koje su stavili proizvođači, te kritička analiza i rasprava rezultata.This paper overviews the state-of-the-art in modern forms of organization, collaboration and flexibility, trends and forecasts of the automotive industry as a representative buyer of tools, machines and special equipment, as well as life cycle management, sustainability and possibility for added value creation in these industry sectors. Based on this, a framework called "smart tool, machine, and special equipment" is proposed. A part of the research done on Slovene manufacturers is presented, where the technological indicators important in the implementation of the proposed framework are identified and ranked regarding to their importance. Additional suggestions by the manufacturers are also provided, as well as critical analysis and discussion of the findings

Skills and employment under automation: Active adaptation at the local level

Context: The article contributes to a discussion of how patterns of employment and qualifications are modified by the ongoing industrial transformation, called Industry 4.0. Although this transformation is said to be a global phenomenon, scholars increasingly discuss the national differences in the wake of Industry 4.0. Our article aims to intervene in this debate by analysing the industrial transformation of a small island situated at the West coast of Norway. We notably investigate the technological renewal by means of Computerised Numeric Control (CNC) and robotics in a network of mechanical firms. Approach: Nine small mechanical engineering firms are analysed by drawing on theories on business networks and clustering of firms. This allows for a discussion of how automation, employment, staff training and profitability are interconnected. The main research question is how the firms are locally embedded in a way that sheds light on the social dimension of vocational training, which is considered a form of Corporate Social Responsibility. Findings: It is informative to use the heuristic concept ‘pre-cluster agglomeration’ to characterise how the nine firms under scrutiny are interacting, while being assisted by a forward-looking industrial association and supported by an active local community. The municipality and the county to which this agglomeration belongs, provide training services and other infrastructures that support the firms when they recruit new employees and upskill their staff, - notably by setting up a CNC training centre attached to an upper secondary school. Conclusion: Our case does not support off-the-shelf narratives of robotisation implies job cuts. In the same way as previous technological transformations were not solely driven by their inherent technical opportunities, the ongoing robotisation is nuanced by the social shaping of technology. There is room for strategic choices when new technology is integrated in work organisations. The extent to which the workforce should be (re-)trained is subject to decisions and negotiations