Page 38 - MetalForming November 2019

Market Report: Appliances
Key personnel at American Trim combined their thoughts to provide detailed responses on materials, man- ufacturability, the incorporation of IoT and more, and how the company and its customers have responded to the challenges arising from these trends.
Materials and Contours
OEM designers focus on kitchen and laundry as independent spaces. For all appliances, the use of stainless steel continues to be strong, with col- ored stainless steel quickly growing market share and many colors current- ly in development. American Trim’s lab provides color-matching capabilities to assure the meeting of these color requirements. Paint and prepaint appli- cations are significant for laundry, but limited for kitchen appliances as they migrate to stainless. Customers find that stainless steel and aluminum com- ponents provide a durable finish with many color and brush options. This meets end consumers’ desires for authentic, eco-friendly materials.
OEMs focus on the user interface and consumer interaction with panels, which also provides a place for brand placement. There is a movement away from rounded, soft designs to crisp, tight designs. Acceptance of unique corner and edge treatments to accom- plish tight-radius designs are accom- plished with both decorated stainless steel and aluminum consoles. Mixed metals and materials are a growing trend, such as aluminum panels with a polycarbonate overlay.
Smart Technology
Smart technology significantly affects appliance design and the manufactur- ing process. Specifically, electronics integration into the control panel rep- resents a primary design factor. The need for strong Wi-Fi connections to the CPU of appliances has reshaped the design and testing procedures of the machine and user interfaces. Mate- rial selection for traditional compo- nents to accommodate Wi-Fi is still in transition as suppliers and OEMs work to overcome the barriers to RF connec-
Like other appliances, refrigerators increasingly incorporate smart features and other amenities, such as this water dispenser and coffee brewer. Photo cour- tesy of GE Appliances
tivity. Approaches have included using larger display areas for metal panels, forward placement of hidden RF anten- na elements within the display enve- lope, and consideration of other ele- ments such as interference from an open metal washer lid. American Trim invested in modeling analysis of sev- eral Wi-Fi antenna and integration approaches to ensure their ability to provide the IoT solution paths that OEMs increasingly desire. In many cases, the best solutions have remained dedicated RF antennae at the perimeter of the machine to enable reliable signal quality without interference from the machine structure and power elements.
Forming and Fabricating Challenges
As mentioned earlier, customers request the forming of precoated mate- rial with a tighter design radius. Amer- ican Trim provides input for produc- tion-friendly processes on unique corner and edge treatments to meet customers’ design specifications. This trend puts a premium on tooling design, small feature revisions to ease the metal stress, and unique coating/ pretreatment solutions so that the fin- ish survives both forming and end- user application testing. The more that
design trends push in these directions, the more that American Trim’s uniquely integrated ‘sandwich’ solutions become critical to success. The design trend toward mixed metals and materials also continues to evolve and will grow integration opportunities. This requires forming and fabrication capabilities to process multiple types of metal in the same applications.
Additionally, cost-reducing designs have increased the difficulty of manu- facturing, i.e., thinner materials (down- gauging) require strengthening features such as ribs and gussets in order to retain structural integrity. This adds complexity to tool designs.
Metal Forming and Fabricating Technology
American Trim has implemented several metal forming and fabricating technology advancements. Fiber lasers increase the speed, accuracy and over- all visual aspects of production parts, and allow for the replacement of expen- sive trim dies. Also, advancements in high-precision cameras now achieve extremely accurate graphics-to-part registration. In addition, servo automa- tion upgrades have increased press speeds via smoother and more accurate movements. To increase its speed of development, American Trim utilizes four- and five-axis CNC mills. Further- more, new simulation software has helped predict and create design options that lead to increased quality while reducing press tonnage.
Collaboration and Leveraging of Capabilities
Recently, American Trim used its unique design and manufacturing capabilities to assist in the design and build of a cooking product. This includ- ed knowledge of the design, porcelain application on a curved surface, dec- orating, adhesives, manufacturing and fixtures, and concluding with the assembly process. In addition, the com- pany has developed and supplied spe- cial colors on materials to allow early production startup by OEMs prior to availability of materials from high-vol-
36 MetalForming/November 2019
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