igus Revolutionizes Custom Component Production with FastLine Service

igus GmbH, a developer and producer of motion plastics, has come up with a solution that will ease the stress of automotive designers and buyers. Previously, if they required an injection mold for a special component that was suitable for series production and resistant to wear at short notice, they had to wait for up to six weeks. However, with igus’ FastLine service, that waiting period has now been significantly reduced to just seven days. This means that customers can quickly order the tribo-optimized plain bearing using the iglidur designer tool. In just four steps, the required part is configured online and ordered from igus.

Many designers and buyers in the automotive supply industry know the problem: they need a special component beyond the catalog products as fast as possible, such as a plain bearing for height adjustment in a car seat. Fire up the 3D printer? The bearing would be printed quickly, but not close enough to the later series solution, partly because of different tolerances and material properties. It would therefore not be representative for validation beyond the prototype phase. The same applies to production with CNC lathes and milling machines, which lead to a different surface finish compared to injection molding. And how about manufacturing the special bearing in injection molding? It often takes up to six weeks or more to produce the right tool. Inconvenient when time is of the essence.

Configure cylindrical bushings, flanged bushings, and washers online in just a few seconds

To solve this dilemma and enable short-term validation of assemblies with initial samples close to a batch product, igus has developed, among other things, a service called FastLine for the automotive industry. It enables easy configuration and ordering of tribo-optimized components in four steps using the online tool ‘iglidur plain bearing designer’. First of all, users select the desired shape—for example, a sleeve bearing. Then they choose the material for injection molding from the iglidur range. Characteristics of the materials, such as maximum ambient temperature and surface pressure, are displayed clearly in the margin of the configurator. After entering the dimensions of the bearing—inner diameter, outer diameter, and bearing width—the user immediately sees the total price for the injection-molding production and can order. STEP files and PDF drawings of the bearing are also available for free download for further planning and designing. And this is how it goes on: after the order is placed, the online tool automatically creates 3D models and other design files, which a special team from the in-house igus tool shop called iform uses to program CNC machine tools in a semi-automated manner. This means that the machines can start producing the injection-molding tool faster than ever with minimal manual effort. A process standardization with short throughput times, which won igus the ‘Excellence in Production’ competition of the machine tool laboratory WZL of the RWTH Aachen University and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT) in the category ‘Internal toolmaking from 50 employees’.

Production time drops to seven days

“This interaction of online configuration, machine networking, and process automation is a novelty in toolmaking,” says Stefan Loockmann-Rittich, iglidur Business Unit Manager, igus. “As a result, the FastLine service allows us to reduce the production time of injection molds for cylindrical bushings, flanged bushings, and washers in special dimensions that are suitable for series production from six weeks to seven days.”

Customers receive the special components accordingly faster and can start validating their assemblies. igus has been active in the automotive industry since 1964. The company supplies over 500 million plain bearings for automotive applications every year. The polymer bearings are used not only in interior systems such as seats, center consoles, or pedals, but also in gearboxes and the thermal management of the drive. In addition to the cost advantages compared to metal bearing solutions, design engineers, and buyers appreciate the lightweight quality, the lack of lubrication, the small bearing clearance, and the vibration-dampening and thus noise-reducing specifications.

Image Source: igus GmbH