Solaxis is a professional auto parts supplier in North America. It uses 3D printing technology to make automotive assembly jigs, which reduces weight and improves accuracy.
Easy assembly
Traditional fixtures for automobile assembly parts often have two major disadvantages: they are difficult to maintain; they are made of metal and weigh 150 pounds, making them difficult to move. However, as Solaxis Ingenious Manufacturing engineers have shown, fixtures can actually get rid of these shortcomings.
With the Stratasys Fortus 3D printer series, Solaxis designed and manufactured a fixture for automotive suppliers to assemble high-volume plastic door seals. After several iterations of the fixture development, Solaxis was able to produce 3D printed fixtures that were 100 pounds lighter than traditional fixtures, and also reduced design and manufacturing time by at least two-thirds compared to traditional processes.
Iterate on demand
Solaxis design engineers have continually optimized door seal assembly fixtures, generating at least a dozen iterations in the past few years. For its automotive customers, a manufacturing model that quickly completes designs through CAD software and uses the Fortus 3D printer family for fast printing is very novel.
Francois Guilbault added: "We can freely modify the design without having to go back and say to the customer 'the mold must be remade'."
This agility increases design flexibility, enabling Solaxis engineers to combine multiple minor adjustments, including the layout of buttons and handles, the addition of chutes, and other ergonomic improvements. This also enables Solaxis to integrate existing internal hardware, allowing customers to quickly replace if a switch or line is disconnected, so the number of parts in the design is greatly reduced.
Guilbault said engineers can complete CAD iterations in 8-20 hours, depending on the complexity of the part. Solaxis was able to share files with its customer's engineers to quickly confirm the design and produce new fixtures within days. Unlike jigs produced using CNC machine tools, Fortus 3D printers can be produced at any time, and the entire production process does not require manual supervision.
For customers, the benefits are obvious. Guilbault said: "We have successfully reduced the entire design and manufacturing cycle from 16-20 weeks under traditional manufacturing models to 3-5 weeks."
High efficiency and low cost
The Solaxis fixture measures 34 inches by 22 inches and weighs just 28 pounds, which is light enough for anyone to move. Today, every operator wants to have such fixtures on their workbench. In addition, by using Solaxis fixtures, workers can save an average of 4 seconds per cycle. In general, employees who assemble seals can perform 250,000 cycles per year, so suppliers save hundreds of hours of labor time.
Guilbault said: "The cycle time alone is enough to prove the value of 3D printing fixtures. Therefore, their return on investment is realized in just 12 months.
Compliance Verification
Before working with Solaxis, customers often encountered compliance issues. Fixtures delivered to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are often returned, which is time consuming and expensive.
Stratasys 3D printing technology enables Solaxis to continuously improve fixtures, saving customers production time and costs. In turn, automotive suppliers have greatly improved the reliability of door seals to their OEM customers. In the past two years, there have been no compliance issues, which means that Solaxis's profits have also increased significantly.