How to get the Feasibility Check for your Metal Section right

After the door locks behind him, Paul K. does a little dance. YESS! His boss liked the new design and is pleased with the draft of an optimized guide rail for the high-bay storage operating devices. This would increase system speed and additionally avoid the recent spate of complaints from their customers. By the end of the week, however, Paul's high spirits have already evaporated, because he cannot seem to find a suitable supplier for this complex part and he does not quite know which starting material he should use for this high-level requirement.

He goes into the weekend pondering and somewhat frustrated, because without suitable material for the metal section he has designed, he does not need to go back to his supervisor a second time. The product developer of the German mechanical engineering company is all the more surprised when he finds a manufacturer whose feasibility check for his profile is basically positive and they jointly adapt his idea so that the component can be produced efficiently and cost-effectively.

In the following, I would like to show you how cooperation in a feasibility check succeeds, why it is so important in the process of product development and to what extent it became decisive for Paul's metal section.

How to get the Feasibility Check right

Paul is a design engineer who wants to push innovative topics in his company. After a long weekend of pondering, he did some research on the Internet and eventually found me. We set up an appointment where he showed me his sketch and we discussed how to proceed. Although not all steps are always necessary in practice, in the following I would like to present a comprehensive feasibility check based on roll forming technology, as we did in part for the component designed by the customer.

7 Steps Feasibility Check 

1. Create sketches:
   As a product developer, you will create the design for a profile and create appropriate sketches.
2. Use Welser Creator:
   With Welser Creator you can try out what is feasible with the planned metal section based on roll forming technology. Depending on the design, the tool will tell you when sooner or later the feasibility will be at risk, whereupon you can directly contact suitable specialists. 
   
3. Initial review by an expert:
   Together with your sketches and inspirations from the Welser Creator, you discuss your designed profile with an expert in roll forming. He or she will examine the design in detail and may suggest changes, for example, to make it easier or more cost-effective to produce.
4. Perform a feasibility simulation:
   If the metal section is complex, it can be simulated using software specially developed for roll forming. In this case a 3D model simulates the planned formation and thereby checks forces and stresses. The simulation is highly advanced and provides reliable and safe parameters to check the feasibility of your section.
5. Developing a counter-proposal for the profile (optional):
   If the result of the assessment and/or simulation is negative and the designed profile cannot be realized, a suitable alternative is developed jointly in a team with all relevant experts, e.g. for stamping technology, welding technology, roll forming or similar technologies.
6. Creating a prototype (optional):
   Since all tools must already be manufactured and the production line set up during roll forming, prototypes are mainly created by manual bending processes, e.g. at the locksmith's, or in a 3D printer. Small production runs of several hundred pieces are an exception, as they are common in the automotive industry which later produces very high quantities. 
7. Receiving an offer:
   The simulation, the appraisal, any adjustments and prototypes finally form the basis of the offer. This includes all required production parameters including tooling costs. One advantage of roll forming is that the feasibility is considered almost 100% certain after a thorough review. 
   
   

3 Tips for the Feasibility Check that fits your Profile

1. Focus on digital, but also make sure to include physical forms of collaboration
   Digital communication channels have noticeably increased in recent months. However, virtual collaboration is often not sufficient for feasibility testing. After all, personal exchange and haptic examination of 3D sketches or even a prototype are essential in many cases.
2. Examine the combination of material, processing technique and radii
   Every material purchased has specific mechanical properties for which steel manufacturers provide recommendations for further processing, such as the minimum bending radius. Furthermore, the applied processing technique plays a crucial role. Roll forming, for example, is a gentle method of shaping metal sheets, therefore it is perfectly suitable even for the smallest bending degrees.
3. Get your partners on board early on
   Conducting a feasibility test at a company does not always have to mean that you have your metal section produced by this fabricator, because you may find that there is another, much better solution for your part. Nevertheless, it makes sense to bring the targeted partner on board at an early stage, to consider costs right from the start or to test new materials. Roll forming, with its versatile possibilities, is not yet familiar to all product developers. In any case, an early joint assessment and feasibility check of your profile with a partner who can provide you with expertise and valuable inputs right from the development phase is worthwhile.
   
   

Why Feasibility Testing can do more than check Feasibility

As in Paul's case, a feasibility check not only verifies the feasible realization of a profile, but also allows you to look at promising options, such as an alternate material or technology to manufacture your profile. In the end, the new guide rail was made from high-strength fine-grain structural steel, as this material allows the necessary small bending radii used in roll forming technology. It even made it possible to reduce the material thickness. Moreover, thanks to the additionally placed laser seam weld, the required accuracy in terms of tolerances was also achieved.

Further Advantages of the right Feasibility Check of your Profile:

1. You save time thanks to fast and professional approaches to find your solution.
2. You save costs if, for example, cheaper materials or more cost-efficient production methods are identified in the course of your feasibility study. Nevertheless, the global budget for product development has risen steadily in recent years. This is mainly due to digitalization and the increasing complexity of products and services.
   
3. You create product developments that can be implemented from innovative ideas, for which there may not have been a solution in sight beforehand.
4. You benefit, especially in the case of sustainable production processes, from the fact that investments in feasibility testing are worth it if, for example, tools that have already been manufactured can be reused.
5. You draw on many years of experience and expertise, so that solutions for unsolvable challenges can be found.

Conclusion: The ideal Feasibility Check for your Profile

After the feasibility check of his profile, Paul has on the one hand found the right material (in this case fine-grain structural steel) for his newly developed design and can on the other hand be sure that the product can actually be manufactured. High-quality simulations provide a particularly high level of certainty for the feasibility of profiles. The earlier a manufacturing partner is brought on board in the product development process, the sooner you as a customer benefit from cost-efficient solutions.