Basel Alsayyed^1,, Khalifa Harib¹

As trade competition is getting fiercer, innovation in all areas of product realization is becoming more of a need than a want. In this paper, the authors present an innovative idea for an actual implementation of reconfigurable manufacturing, where a FlexDie is designed to manufacture sheet metal parts. The idea is to mimic the representation of graphics and text on a screen using pixels. The developed FlexDie in this paper consists of the two halves that are similar in design. It comprises pixel like pins assembled next to each other in the XY plane. The pins’ heights in the Z-direction are designed to be adjustable to yield a desired topology. Each pixel can be altered and locked at a certain Z- coordinate. A prototype is developed to test the concept and produce preliminary results. The developed prototype consists of two-half dies, each having 8x8 square pixels, each of about 10x10 square mm. In the implemented design the Z-coordinates of the pixels are controlled and locked at desired heights via an array of screws. Sample parts consisting of three-dimensional metal sheets were manufactured using the developed FlexDie. This implementation opens the door for a new way of reconfigurable manufacturing, where the hardware is designed to be programmable.

reconfigurable manufacturing, CAD/CAM integration, FMS, flexible die, group technology, sustainable manufacturing