From the most extreme cosmetic to the highly functional precision part, Advent’s business machine manufacturing clients regularly challenge contemporary design thinking. This is where our engineering skills have the opportunity to really shine with our in-depth knowledge of resins and engineering design. Our industry expertise has helped us to reduce assembly costs through part consolidation(s), process reductions that eliminate plating and painting, as well as improve mechanical abilities for speed and strength. Taking standard insert and over-molding techniques to new levels, our feature-driven hybrid design skills have produced exotic insert molded parts that satisfy many of this market sector’s unique machine requirements.
The ADVENT Record of Success:
Case Study
Responsible for driving a tandem auger assembly, this part features a multi-function auger drive and end cap assembly compromised of the following – five powdered metal transfer gears, four insert-molded abec-styled sealed bearings, two press fit sealed bearings, two precision ground alignment shafts, and two highly precision ground drive shafts.
CHALLENGE: The assembly’s tolerance adherence was critical to the mechanism’s successful use. Of primary concern was the potential misalignment of functional geometry and the inability to be tolerance-capable as these issues could cause the assembly’s operation to jam. Also, the assembly’s bill of material had several different processes and supply chains which created a challenge to deliver consistent lead time adherence both internally and externally.
SOLUTION: To attain correct positioning, tooling was inserted in many areas for expected adjustments. Then, additional areas were designed for expected geometry revisions from the customer. We completed an in-depth design of experiments to develop a stable process that would ensure dimensional success. Lastly, our ERP system simplified the bill of material for lead time adjustments and provided the tools to keep this assembly cost competitive.
THE RESULT? A tolerance capable tool and process and a well managed bill of materials