Choosing the right supplier, in a wide range of zinc die casting manufacturers, is a tough issue. Having the right partner helps to reach planning and project goals and can be useful to develop a product or component in a co-design activity, while a bad partner could be a hard obstacle to catch the goals.
For selecting the most suitable zinc die casting manufacturer a customer needs to consider 5 important aspects such as:
- Co-design service
- Product quality
- Delivery time
- Mould design
- Cost effectiveness
The right supplier among zinc die casting manufacturers
The first step for a designer is the selection of the production technology. Die-casting processes give the opportunity to manufacture every kind of products, and to fulfill technical or aesthetical requirements, saving costs at the same time.
Why zinc die casting
In zinc die-casting, designers are able to create innovative shapes because of the particular ability of the material to allow narrow tolerances. They can also provide the customers with a component which responds to structural needs, helps reducing costs, delivery time and material waste.
Once the designers have made their decision, they need to know the material reactions, and working with the supplier in a co-design phase can help them optimizing processes and results.
The product or component to be produced needs to have shapes or characteristics reproduceable with the mould. It would be useful for the client to involve the supplier also in the design phase to optimize the mould and the production process.
As said before finding the proper zinc die casting manufacturer is not so easy, especially when the customer does not take care of the following key points.
Co-design Service
If you do not take into account the entire production process, it could weaken the product or component performance and function.
Zinc die casting manufacturers should have an engineering department fully dedicated to analysis and simulation tasks, in order to guarantee the best support to their costumers during the product design phase.
The perfect supplier should also have the possibility to do rapid prototyping inside its structure, directly using pilot tool, with no need of sub-contractors for the testing operations.
Rapid prototyping enables a direct connection to the next production stage: the construction of the mould. This makes the whole process faster defining standards of quality that will remain constant at each stage of the production process.
Product Quality
Minimizing risks is one of the main characteristics of a good zinc die casting manufacturer. The supplier should have the capability to plan and foresee any possible issue and risk related to the whole process. FMEA and other statistic instruments and tools must be used to design the process. Up to date machines, devices and robots for a proper automation level, contribute to reach the customer’s expectation such as product quality and on time delivery.
Delivery Time
A zinc die caster knows that timing and the ability to meet a deadline are strictly related to the production plan in order to reach the customer's expectations. To hit the target the perfect supplier should consider 3 aspects: decision-making processes, idea of reaction and collaboration between departments.
Decision-making processes
Fast decision-making processes allow a company to be more competitive and strictly focused on goals. Thanks to a streamlined management structure the decisions will be faster: that means an advantage for customers in terms of reaction to a new project or challenge.
The idea of reaction
Idea of reaction should be a core skill in processes to establish a better relationship with customers. Timing and the ability to meet a deadline are in fact closely related to the schedules and the production plan to satisfy the customer's needs. The idea of reaction boosts those features over the ordinary. In this way the ability to meet the customer's needs becomes trust, and trust provides with the best products. That should be the idea of reaction for zinc die casting manufacturers.
Collaboration between departments
A perfect zinc die casting manufacturer encourages the collaboration between different departments which can lead to higher quality in the services offered to customers. In zinc die casting, that can mean a maintenance tool shop close to the production department, with the same shift time, to guarantee real-time interventions in case of issues.
Mould Design
For a designer knowing the concept of die casting mould and how it works it is fundamental to develop the desired product.
First of all it is important to choose the right materials for the mould. If you skip this step the mould can weaken and create fractures in a very short time, with a consequent extra maintenance that implies extra costs, waste of time and customers' frustration.
The mould cannot have thin thickness and too weak matching surfaces. On the other hand, it needs the correct matching tolerances on the inserts and on the sliding parts, a cooling down system which guarantees the correct thermal balance, well designed runners and gates, proper overflow dimensions, the right vacuum valve and a suitable ejection system.
A well designed mould allows the optimization of the production process avoiding slowdowns and risks during the manufacturing phase, all issues that lead to extra costs and delays in the product delivery.
During the mould design phase, every step of the process must be considered, such as automation devices, final coatings and assembly requirements of the product.
Cost effectiveness
Zinc die casting allows a considerable saving in terms of additional machining and assembly. This technology minimizes the machining process and reduces the assembling of components. The perfect zinc die casting manufacturer has the expertise and the know-how to develop products or components cutting the cost of additional operations. A competitive advantage for the entire production process in terms of time and economic saving.
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