The Axiomatic design applied to the injection moulds design and manufacturing for plastics parts

Abstract

Traditionally, the design process is one of the few technical areas where experience is generally more important than formal education. Usually it follows a recursive and repetitious process, characterized by trial and error. This paradigm of product development is expensive, unpredictable and prone to failures. To achieve success, companies must design the product right at the first time, since even an inordinate amount of investment in the subsequent manufacturing processes cannot overcome errors committed during the design stage of product development. Based upon this reality, companies may approach product development in a systematic and scientific basis, which can provide designers with the benefit of scientific tools that can assure them complete success. Design axioms [1], as a special set of principles, provide a systematic search process through the design space to minimize the random search process and determine the best design solution amongst many alternatives. In the literature, previous work demonstrated the numerous benefits obtained by the Axiomatic Design (AD) approach in some industrial and organizational areas. Our paper will explain how this method can be applied to the mould design process, and suggests a few changes that should be made to the conventional process adopted, according to the AD principles.