Strategic use of Additive Manufacturing

107 Pages·2017·8.11 MB·English

Strategic use of Additive
Manufacturing

Ebba Nystedt
DIVISION OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT | DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN SCIENCES
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING LTH | LUND UNIVERSITY
2017

MASTER THESIS
Strategic use of Additive
Manufacturing
A case study at Atlas Copco Construction Tools

Author: Ebba Nystedt
Strategic use of Additive Manufacturing
A case study at Atlas Copco Construction Tools

Copyright © 2017 Ebba Nystedt

Published by
Division of Product Development, Department of Design Sciences, Faculty
of Engineering LTH, Lund University
P.O. Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Subject: Machine Design for Engineers (MMK820)
Division: Product Development
Supervisor: Olaf Diegel
Examiner: Axel Nordin
Abstract
As additive manufacturing is developing at an exponential rate and is
stepping towards industrialization, it is difficult to keep track of what is
possible to achieve today and also what can be expected tomorrow. The
starting point of this thesis work is a global picture valid today of what is
possible to achieve with additive manufacturing and also inspiration of its
use in the manufacturing industry. Additive manufacturing provides
increased degrees of design freedom in product realization. Using additive
manufacturing strategically can decrease the development time for some
components by allowing manufacturing of prototypes not possible before
and drastic reduction of lead times. When prototyping, there are needs to be
met from several functions within the organization including design
engineers, purchasers, test-lab, material specialists and production
development. Introducing additive manufacturing, certain needs are not
possible to fulfil and trade-offs are needed to be done. In order to
understand these trade-offs, a decision-making process has been developed
to be used as a foundation to decision-making during the product
development process, including the project preparatory phase, design phase,
prototype and test-phase and production preparatory phase.

Keywords: Additive Manufacturing, Rapid Prototyping, Atlas Copco,
Design Thinking,
Sammanfattning

Då additiv tillverkning utvecklas i en exponentiell takt och är på väg mot
industrialisering är det svårt att hålla reda på vad som är möjligt att uppnå
idag och vad som kan förväntas imorgon. Utgångspunkten för detta
examensarbete är en återspegling av en global bild giltig idag för vad som
är möjligt att uppnå med additiv tillverkning och inspiration av dess
användning inom tillverkningsindustrin. Additiv tillverkning tillåter ökad
grad av designfrihet vid produktrealisering. Strategisk användning av
additiv tillverkning kan minska utvecklingstid för vissa komponenter då
prototypframtagning som ej varit möjlig tidigare tillåts och ledtider minskas
drastiskt. Vid prototypframtagning behöver behov från flera funktioner i
organisationen mötas inklusive designingenjörer, inköpare, testlabb,
materialspecialister och produktionsutveckling. När additiv tillverkning
introduceras, är vissa behov inte möjliga att uppfylla och kompromisser är
nödvändiga att göras. För att förstå dessa avvägningar har en beslutsprocess
utvecklats som ska användas som grund för beslutsfattandet under
produktutvecklingsprocessen, inklusive projektets förberedande fas, design-
fas, prototyp och test-fas och produktionsförberedande fas.

Nyckelord: Additiv tillverkning, Rapid Prototyping, Atlas Copco, Design
Thinking
Acknowledgments
I would like to say thank you to my supervisor Mats Åhlin at Atlas Copco
who this thesis project would not have been possible without. I would also
like to say thank you to Olaf Diegel at the Department of Design Sciences
for the help I have received.

Lund, June 2017

Ebba Nystedt
Table of contents
List of acronyms 12
1 Introduction 13
1.1 Company description 13
1.2 Background 13
1.3 Goal with thesis 14
1.4 Scope and delimitations 14
2 Method 15
2.1 Research method 15
2.2 Literature review 16
2.3 Interviews 16
2.4 Semi-structured interviews 17
2.5 Case studies 17
2.6 Corporate documents 17
3 Additive Manufacturing 18
3.1 Seven AM Processes 18
Powder bed fusion 18
Material Extrusion 20
Material Jetting 20
Binder Jetting 21
Sheet Lamination 22
Vat Photo Polymerization 22
Directed Energy Deposition 23
Seven categories matrix 23
3.2 Materials 25
3.3 Post-processing 26
Support material removal 26
Surface texture improvements 27
Accuracy 27
Improve material properties 28
Colour 28
3.4 Design guidelines 28
Holes and internal channels 29
Overhang areas 29
Wall thickness 30
Supports 30
Design guidelines matrix 31
3.5 Cost structure 31
Well-structured costs 31
Ill-structured costs 32
Costs sourced components 33
3.6 Tooling applications of AM 37
Injection molding 37
Injection molding vs AM 39
3.7 Successful Additive Manufacturing Applications 40
Manufacturing of injection mold 40
Precision parts for engines and transmission in automotive industry 41
Additive manufactured gas-turbine blades 42
4 Theory of decision-making 44
4.1 Analytical Hierarchy Process 44
4.2 Sensitivity Analysis 45
Sensitivity analysis to understand trade-offs 45
5 Atlas Copco Construction Tools 47
5.1 Product development process 47
Project preparatory 47
Design phase 48
Prototype- and test-phase 48
Production preparatory phase 48
Market introduction 49
Project closure 49
Decision gates and deliverables 49
5.2 Decision-making 50
R&D 50
Purchasing 50
5.3 Prototyping 51
Proof of concept prototypes 51
Physical prototypes 51
Prototyping criteria 52
5.4 Projects 54
Rock Drill 100 54
Cobra Electro 56
Innovation strategies 57
Planning process 57
5.5 Analysis 58
6 Introducing AM in a product development process 60
6.1 Planning process 60
Prototyping objective 60
6.2 Areas of application 62
Injection molded components 62
Machined components 62
Cast components 64
6.3 Evaluate the relative benefits and limitations 65
Planning for AM 65
Compare post-processing operations 65
6.4 Decision model 66
Unit Price analysis 67
Project management tool 67
AHP – Evaluation of alternatives 70
6.5 The value of time 71
6.6 Analysis 73
7 Case studies 74
7.1 Injection molded component 74
Evaluate the relative benefits 75
Prototyping alternatives 75
Decision model 76
Recommendation 80
7.2 Machined components 82
Evaluate the relative benefit 82
Prototyping alternatives 83
Decision model 84
Recommendation 86
7.3 Cast component 87
Proof of concept 87
8 Implementation plan 88
8.1 Stage 1 - Lay the foundation 88
8.2 Stage 2 - Design the decision-making process 89
8.3 Stage 3 - Implementing decision-making process 89
9 Future research 90
9.1 Explore additional areas of application 90
9.2 Future master thesis opportunities 90
Final part production 90
AM suppliers 91
10 Conclusion 93
References 94
Appendix A Time plan 97
A.1 Project plan 97