General details
EDIHs involved
Customer
Customer size: Mid-cap (500-2999)
Customer turnover: 42.000.000
Challenges
FAINSA, with its extensive experience and expertise in 3D printing of plastics using Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), aims to enhance its prototyping capabilities by expanding into the additive manufacturing of metallic materials through Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology. This strategic move is driven by the numerous benefits offered by SLM, including significant weight reduction, cost efficiency, on-demand production, and high customisation. These advantages position metal additive manufacturing as a superior alternative to the conventional manufacturing technologies currently employed in FAINSA's production processes, promising more faithful, functional, and economical prototypes.
The challenges were identified by the company, mainly focused in the production of customised components at the same or reduced cost compared to current manufacturing methods, reducing the design validation time thanks to AM-SLM speed, reducing lead time to market and having the capability of producing the components on demand. All these challenges were adressed with additive manufacturing, SLM technology for metal parts, thanks to DIH4CAT and the capabilities and resources at Leitat-IAM3DHUB, the node for AM3DP.
Solutions
The service required by FAINSA is support on the adoption and use of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies for metallic materials in the production of prototype and serial production parts for railway seats. The primary objectives are to achieve significant weight and cost reductions in their products.
Thanks to DIH4CAT, Leitat-IAM3DHUB supported the company with the redesign and optimisation of the parts, feasibility study, cost analysis, access to the facilities, technologies and machines, and the implementation of AM in the company through the developed products, as demonstrators but also as success stories of AM application and benefits.
The process followed to achieve these objectives is as follows:
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Analysis and Selection: Identify and select metal parts used in seating for potential AM application.
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Study of AM Materials and Technologies: Research and evaluate suitable materials and AM technologies.
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Selection of Materials and Technologies: Choose the optimal materials and AM technologies for the project.
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Orientation and Support Strategy: Determine the best orientation for parts on the build platform and develop an effective support strategy.
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Redesign and Optimisation: Redesign and optimise parts specifically for SLM technology to enhance performance.
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Manufacturing: Produce the parts using a Renishaw RenAM 500 machine.
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Post-Processing: Conduct post-processing to ensure parts meet functional and aesthetic requirements.
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Testing and Validation: Test and validate the parts to ensure they meet all performance criteria.
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Cost Analysis: Perform a comprehensive cost analysis to assess the economic benefits of the AM process.
The public investment was an atraction for the company in order to test before invest and take the risk of exploring AM for their products and business, and for DIH4CAT and Leitat-IAM3DHUB to develope solutions and demonstrate the capabilities and benefits of AM.
Results and Benefits
We have responded to the need of the company to obtain prototypes and final parts through additive manufacturing technologies of metallic materials, with adjusted costs. Our approach ensures the production of parts that are not only faithful to their intended design but also possess mechanical properties equal to or exceeding those of traditionally manufactured counterparts. Additionally, improvements have been applied to consider additive manufacturing to obtain final production parts.
Three key metal components from FAINSA's seating products have been redesigned and optimised for production using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology in aluminum. The improvements over the current parts are as follows:
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The Seat arm has achieved a balanced weight and strength by transitioning from magnesium alloy to 3D-printed aluminum alloy, resulting in reduced manufacturing costs.
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The Table knot has significantly reduced its weight while preserving its mechanical behaviour.
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The Handle as drastically reduced its weight maintaining the mechanical performance of the part.
The DIH4CAT (EDIH) invested in the project with public funding, which allowed Leitat-IAM3DHUB to suport FAINSA, develop the solutions, and more important: transfer know-how to the company. The funds helped FAINSA test before invest and validate the technology and solutions provided. The expected return-on-investment has not been analysed yet, but the reduction on the design time for new products and the possibility to manufacture customized solutions on demand will bring, for sure, finantial benefits to FAINSA, as the company stated after finishing the validation of the solutions.
Perceived social/economic impact
Customised products can be produced at the same or even lower costs compared to conventional manufacturing methods. Moreover, the production of lighter components is a key advantage of this technology. By optimising material usage and incorporating innovative design techniques, we can manufacture parts that are significantly lighter than those produced through traditional methods. This reduction in weight not only enhances the performance of the end products—by improving efficiency and handling characteristics—but also translates to substantial energy savings, ultimately reducing the carbon footprint in transportation.
These benefits have a profound impact on sustainability. Through the adoption of metal additive manufacturing, FAINSA is taking meaningful steps towards more sustainable production practices, contributing to a greener and more environmentally responsible industry.
Measurable data
The three key metal components from FAINSA's seating products that have undergone this process have experienced the following improvements:
|
Part |
Improvement | |
|
Seat arm |
Equalise weight and strength by changing magnesium alloy material to 3D printing aluminium alloy, reducing manufacturing cost. 1:1 weight with a 50% denser alloy. 1:1 rigidity with 1.25mm lower thickness. |
|
|
Tablet knot |
Reduce weight and maintain mechanical behaviour. -26% weight reduction. |
|
|
Handle |
Reduce weight drastically and maintain mechanical behaviour. -70% weight reduction. |
Lessons learned
Metal additive manufacturing offers significant advantages and benefits to the company both during the prototyping stage and in production. During prototyping, it substantially reduces time and costs, while in production, it enables high levels of customisation and is ideal for short to mid-sized production runs, allowing on demand production.
Some aesthetical aspects shall continue to be addressed to obtain a greater finishing, but current results of the printed parts and subsequent finishing processes meet the acceptable standards for production parts.
In terms of the service provided, the project run smoothly thanks to a good coordination between Leitat-IAM3DHUB (as node of the DIH4CAT) and FAINSA. Communication, planning, and close follow-up activitities, were key to achieve results and meet expectations.
Recommendations from our experience would be to set and agree the specifications and scope of the projecte at the very beginning, and make the company be part of the project, and its personnel taking part on some key activities and working sessions, instead of just providing partial results to validate: this led to a more efficient and fast execution of the project, from the technical point of view but also to accomplish the plan and timings.
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