Title: Obtention of prototype parts by vacuum bagging for the development of special packages for internal use by automakers

Authors: Paulo Carlos Kaminski; Guilherme Canuto Da Silva

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 2231, São Paulo 05508-900, Brazil ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 2231, São Paulo 05508-900, Brazil

Abstract: Special packages for storage and transportation are important components for the automobile manufacturing process. The absence of these packages in the production flow causes an impact on productivity and, in extreme cases, production waste. The special packages must be planned, designed, built and tested to meet the requirements of the final product for which they are developed. For this, prototype parts are necessary to develop the internal systems of product storage in the package. The prototype parts are usually obtained by stamping. This work proposes the application of the vacuum bagging technique to build the prototype parts used in the static tests of these packages. The main result was time reduction in the development of these packages in order to meet the vehicle production deadline. This research was implemented in a European automaker in Brazil. The data of this case are presented to validate the proposal.

Keywords: rapid tooling; vacuum bagging; prototype parts; special packaging; automakers; automobile industry; automotive manufacturing; Brazil.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAPIDM.2011.043455

International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 2011 Vol.2 No.3, pp.132 - 149

Published online: 18 Feb 2015 *

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