How to Balance Quality & Speed in Metal Design
Designing metal parts can often feel like a balancing act. On one hand, there is the pressure to produce high-quality designs that deliver optimal performance. On the other hand, competition within the market and customer demands fuel the need for a speedy design process.
While balancing quality and speed may seem challenging, it’s not out of reach. The key is to incorporate the right strategies within your design process.
3 Ways to Balance Quality & Efficiency in Metal Design
Clearly Define Your Strategy
Behind the design of every metal part should be a strategic plan. Businesses need to have a clear picture of their overarching goals and establish a roadmap for achieving them.
While part of this equation involves leveraging experience, research also plays an important role in the design of metal parts. Organizations should analyze the types of products their competitors have on the market, including the features they have as well as design elements that might detract from or enhance the user experience.
Getting answers to these questions fuels a faster metal design process while ensuring end parts and products meet the demands of consumers.
Choose Precise Methods
A metal part is only as strong as the methods used to create it. So when less precise techniques are used in the design process, stress and burrs can easily be introduced into the material. This can not only inhibit the performance of the metal design but also generate the need for further methods to correct such issues.
That’s why it’s so important to choose precise methods. Take chemical etching as an example. This manufacturing approach can achieve burr-free tight tolerances without causing added mechanical stress to metal designs.
Taking advantage of precise methods such as this allows businesses to achieve high-quality parts — even in the case of thin or complex designs — at an efficient rate.
Design for Manufacturing
The manufacturing stage may come after the metal design process, but that’s not to say it shouldn’t be a consideration earlier on. In fact, metal parts and components should be designed for the manufacturing stage to ensure a smooth transition and prevent production issues.
From materials to finishing work, organizations need to identify how their metal part design processes connect with manufacturing capabilities as well as their overall budget. Making this connection before the design process begins leads to more successful design outcomes and streamlines production processes.
The team at Switzer understands the importance of balancing quality and speed in metal design. That’s why we look to provide design solutions that are manufacturable, repeatable and scalable. To learn how we can help with your custom metal part or component, reach out to us here.
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