Note: The Artful Sourcing blog has been discontinued.

I just wrote an article over on Artful Sourcing on Fused Deposition Modeling® (FDM®). In the article I mentioned our die cast supplier Chicago White Metal because they make great use of this additive manufacturing process in their engineering group. One of the things that really sets Chicago White Metal apart from other die cast suppliers is their insistence on quality in toolmaking design and manufacturing. When the CWM engineers are creating the design files for the tools that will ultimately cast their customers’ parts, CWM uses MagmaSoft Mold Flow software to analyze the tool design. They make any required changes to that design based on simulation results and then create a prototype part on the FDM® machine to analyze the end result. This iterative process results in a quality part.

Without a great tool design and construction, the end product will likely be a disappointment. As they say at CWM: “Excellence is Expected.”