Manufacturing process selection : Shape and process compatibility

What are the different types of geometries compatible to the most common process

Manufacturing process selection is one of the key decisions for design engineers during the early phase of concept development of a new part in a product .

The geometry of parts or components is defined by their function . There can be a very wide range of shapes in which parts are manufactured in today . They can be broadly classified as shown.

Once a rough shape has been arrived at in the design process. It is time to select a suitable material and process for it. Materials and processes are in the thousands and selecting them will decide a lot of downstream activities which go in the design process.

If we just focus on the process and consider the most common processes of Casting, forging , Injection molding , Sheet metal forming Blow moulding then this Process- shape matrix is useful to get a rough idea for decision making during process selection followed my material selection

Here is a Basic Process – Shape Matrix for most commonly used manufacturing processes:

Yellow indicates compatibility

Categories: DFM