Design for Manufacture Based on an Integrated Product Process Design Model

This paper details an integrated product process design model that represents process capabilities by a set of key indicators and allows for the design of products taking into account constraints set out by the process. The model is applied to Incremental sheet forming (ISF) processes and their variants. ISF processes have been developed over the past 20 years and have reached a state of development now allowing for a transition from scientific research to broader industrial application. ISF with its low part specific tooling represents a technology suitable for individualized production down to one-piece-flow. Hence, it might satisfy the growing demand for individualized products in the field of sheet metal production. However, an industrial use of ISF requires that general design rules are provided to designers to enable designs that are compatible with the capabilities of ISF. Today’s product design typically is more suitable for stamping operations than for ISF which makes the fabrication of parts by ISF difficult and increases lead time and costs. Also, different variations of ISF processes exist that are based on different machines (industrial robots, CNC machines,…) and are characterized by different capabilities, e.g. in terms of accuracy. The objective of this work is the development of an integrated product process design model and its application to ISF. The capabilities of currently available ISF processes are determined and compared to the requirements of selected products from the automotive and aero-space industry.