Digital revolution in automobiles have become pervasive now and mechanics without electronics will become reality on papers only. Stratasys Asia Pacific a subsidiary of Stratasys Ltd a global leader of 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions digitalises their manufacturing solutions and accord the same to Honda Access and the latter capitalises the solution rendered by Stratasys in the form of 3D printing. The thought process evolving in all our minds is true that Honda’s accessories get prototyped with stratasys’s 3D printing system thus improving the development efficiencies by synchronising the development schedule of automotive and car accessories.
Honda’s accessories brain convoluted to think one-up amongst prevailing standards and that effort hits big here with all the accessories prototyped with Honda’s ‘Stratasys Objet Eden500V 3D printer’. Headquartered in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, Honda Access manufactures accessories for Honda’s cars, motorcycles and other items globally and the count of accessories’ design goes upto 300 for local buyers based on the requirements like driver intention, climatic conditions and terrain conditions. Easy and quick customisation is also a spotting point with this printer. Honda claims that this protyping will accelerate the product development cycle and to highlight this might proxy the CNC machines, an awing fact.
Producing prototype parts by CNC machines call for excessive efforts, cost and human intervention full time to operate the machines whilst monitor the production on-site. 3D printing shows upper hand in terms of speeding up the prototyping process which in-turn chains out our test effectively and modifications if needed will be done at reasonable cost. With this, the development of accessories is accelerated and gets synchronised with that of vehicle . As the printing gives us a contour on how the accessories are quality-sensitive, we need to have careful cognizance of the same. “The 3D printer’s ability to create fine details, ease to remove support material and printing accuracy are all critical to product verification. Design quality has improved significantly and the large printer tray size allows us to create large parts, such as wheels up to 14 inches. 3D printing technology has become indispensable for our business,” commented Hiroshi Takemori, Senior Researcher of Product Planning Department, Design Group.
As accessories markets are Geo-sensitive frequent orders from different markets hit our doors and we have to be evocative in responding the same. As prototyping becomes a critical variable to calibrate and assess flaws in the output, digital solutions evolve and welcome the industry with the desired inputs. “Honda Access is a perfect example of how 3D printing, an enabler for businesses looking to gain competitive advantage through streamlining of manufacturing processes,” opined Katayama. Honda caters varied geo specified markets with cost competitive and bespoke products prototyped with 3D printing with survival of the fastest (fittest) mantra being deep rooted. Committed to customer excellence, we are happy that we succeeded in facilitating customers to streamline the manufacturing process while enhancing customer satisfaction concluded Katayama.
