Are you curious about the latest trends in metal manufacturing? Manufacturers have been making big waves in recent years with several technological and procedural advancements that have improved the quality and speed of metal wire production.
As these technologies and procedures enter the market, we expect big changes in wire-forming services as we continue into 2023. So the team at Midland Metal Products is here to discuss some of these trends to watch out for in the coming year.
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Automation is the way of the future for many industries, and metal manufacturing is no exception. Automation and robotics are ideal for metal manufacturing for three major reasons.
First, automation greatly increases productivity and allows suppliers to produce more products for buyers. Automation reduces inputs and allows for more outputs without sacrificing product quality. An automated system can meet the exact manufacturing specifications of specialized wire to work properly.
Second, automation allows for precision engineering at an extremely high level. Making wire requires precise dimensions and lengths down to a fraction of a millimeter. If measurements are even one tick off, it can mean the difference between bad and high-quality wiring. Automation reduces this margin of error and makes designs more reproducible for less money.
Third, automation allows wire manufacturers to allocate more resources to wire forming design and testing aspects instead of strict manufacturing. Automation templates greatly streamline production and make products more standardized. Automation will become the gold standard for wire-forming manufacturers for all these reasons and more.
Creating custom wire products can be difficult, as clients need increasingly complex designs for aesthetic or functional purposes. In response, custom wire-forming manufacturers use advanced 3D printing technologies to allow wire forming for complex shapes and designs and wire accessories and attachments. For example, manufacturers can use 3D printing plans to print wire assemblies, connector shells, cable housings, and wire molds for making harnesses.
3D printing offers several benefits over traditional methods of manufacturing:
More generally, 3D printing allows companies to meet the changing needs of their clients. 3D printing, by its very nature, allows for customization and makes it much easier to modify slightly to design specifications. 3D printing lets wire-forming companies make exactly what their clients need, allowing them to reproduce their designs cheaply.
Overstating how beneficial 3D printing will be to the wire manufacturing industry is a challenge in the long run. 3D printing opens up numerous avenues for custom cable assemblies, wire harnesses, and much more. As these technologies increase in the industry, we will see a reorienting of large-scale wire design and production.
Sustainability is the name of the game in most businesses now as industry giants look for ways to lower their environmental footprints and use regenerative techniques. So-called ‘green’ cables use fewer harmful materials in their composition, like lead and certain other heavy metals that can leach into the environment.
Green cabling also has that designation because of the clean manufacturing process that creates it. Manufacturers limit their production practices to reduce the amount of byproducts from wire creation.
Additionally, green and sustainable wiring and cable products heavily utilize recycled metals and materials to reduce energy consumption from metal manufacturing and reduce landfill contributions.
Several bio-friendly wiring and cabling products, such as zero-halogen cables, have already hit the market. These cables will not smoke and don’t produce harmful halogens from fire or heat. These innovations in the wire-forming industry contribute to environmental sustainability efforts and product safety.
As industries diversify, they find themselves in need of specific products to meet their applications. In response, custom wire-forming manufacturers increasingly offer customized solutions for their clientele. Wire manufacturers can make custom products with unique gauges, dimensions, tensile strengths, and more.
Computer modeling and computer-aided design (CAD) tools are major contributors to custom wire-forming designs. These tools greatly reduce the time it takes to create prototype designs and greatly speed up the design process. Custom inputs are much easier to design via CAD than traditional methods, and the resources saved can be spent elsewhere in the development and manufacturing pipeline.
As companies increasingly offer more customized products for their clients, they are introducing a new standard of customization in retooling traditional manufacturing. The abundance of tools available to manufacturers makes custom wire-forming the industry norm rather than a specialized service. We will see a further push for more custom wire products in the future.
The global pandemic has strained supply chains worldwide and has partially been responsible for inflationary pressures. In response, many custom wire-forming manufacturers focus on cutting expenses and delivering quality products more efficiently. Increasing quality control lets manufacturers create wires safely and effectively.
Avenues for reducing costs include lowering shipping costs or reducing renegotiating contracts and suppliers for raw materials. Many companies are consolidating their product lines to focus on those that can maximize revenue and provide a more targeted product for specific demographics.
For example, previous quality control methods relied primarily on statistical sampling to produce projected failure rates. However, validation and testing procedure advances have now made individual quality control possible. This new type of validation can further reduce manufacturing errors.
Midland Metal Products has nearly a century of experience as one the best custom wire-forming manufacturers in the area. Our dedication to precision manufacturing is the base of everything we do. Our goal is to transform your ideals into the real metal with a high quality of workmanship you can only expect from an industry-leading figure. We can guarantee fast timelines on your specialized projects.
Fill out our contact form, or call today at (773) 927-5700 to learn more about our wire-forming manufacturing services! We’re ready to assist with your needs.
Check out our progress in robotics here!
