Protolabs, one of the world’s leading digital manufacturing service providers, has launched Design for Manufacturing (DFM) analysis for 3D printed parts, providing manufacturers throughout Europe with peace of mind. It is a significant advancement to the 3D printing offering because it provides additional assurance that a part is suitable for manufacturing before committing to production, all online in seconds.
Protolabs has been assisting customers who use the process for CNC and Injection Moulding offerings, and this development brings the benefits of speed and reassurance to the 3D Printing service.
“Additive manufacturing is a brilliant technology, allowing engineers to produce complex parts that were previously too difficult to achieve.”
– Andrea Landoni, 3D Printing Product Manager (EMEA), Protolabs
Design for Manufacturing (DFM)
Design for Manufacturing (DFM), also known as DFMA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly, with the end goal of producing a better product at a lower cost. This is accomplished through the simplification, optimisation, and refinement of the product design. The terms DFMA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly) and DFM are sometimes used interchangeably.
DFM reduces costs and time to market while improving quality and reliability significantly. When developing a new component or product, it is critical to always keep DFM principles in mind. Analyzing existing components to ensure that they are designed and manufactured efficiently may also yield significant results.
DFM is the process of converting the geometries, mechanisms, and feature requirements generated during the product development process into something that can be easily manufactured and assembled using industrial machinery.
Andrea Landoni added, “Whilst the technology offers great flexibility, there are a few limitations that engineers must be aware of and the Design for Manufacturability (DFM) analysis provides that guidance in seconds. The system will instantly highlight all the issues to the user, whether they are critical, such as parts that are too large to be produced, or non-critical, like dimensions that are close to certain thresholds like wall thickness and may not form completely.”
Landoni also mentioned that Protolabs understands the importance of speed, but it also has to ensure that the parts are correct and of high quality. And its instant analysis means users can have all the advantages of additive manufacturing with even more certainty without sacrificing speed.
Design for Manufacturability processes eliminate lost time incidents for the vast majority of common issues, preventing engineers from proceeding with their order only to discover an issue hours later. While the vast majority of problems are resolved, there may be times when the user requires additional assistance.
Landoni concluded by saying,“Protolabs understand that specific projects require technical consultancy to solve complex issues. In these circumstances, our Application Engineers are still on hand to overcome these challenges and accelerate the process. The Design for Manufacturability analysis supports our Application Engineers by reducing the number of projects they need to get involved in, allowing them to interact with more customers who require their support even faster.”
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