Casting Design: Are You Doing it Right?

Casting design: Are you optimizing your product?

Fit, form, and function – our customers are experts in this to manufacture their vehicles. However, they often don’t know the technicalities and requirements of the casting manufacturing process. Everyone’s bottom line improves with efficient casting designs. 

That’s where Grede’s engineering team comes in. Grede’s iron ingenuity, product design, and development come in many forms. Each step identifies and solves a different problem.  

Don’t need full-service design and development? No problem, pick and choose the services that’ll save you time in the long run. Grede’s full-service engineering capabilities include: 

Lightweighting Demand

As the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) continues, the exact timeline for EV market dominance remains uncertain. However, one thing is clear: the demand for lightweight casting is unequivocal and immediate.  

Regardless of when the EV market reaches its full maturity, the benefits of reducing weight, including enhanced efficiency and decreased energy consumption, are an essential strategy for the current and future vehicle markets.  

Grede has consistently been at the forefront of design and engineering in lightweight castings. With years of experience and expertise, we have pioneered innovations and set benchmarks for the industry, emphasizing our commitment to advancing sustainable and efficient solutions. As the industry evolves, we continue to lead, consistently optimizing designs for lightweight efficiency and functionality. 

Initial Design Concept

Did you know Grede can begin the casting design at your proof-of-concept phase? Grede has product engineers on staff with experience in understanding your product needs for fit, form, and function, so first concepts are on target as potential solutions to your needs. 

Design Optimization

So, you have a casting design… but can it be made? Is it too heavy? Grede understands the manufacturing process to optimize the casting for manufacturability. 

Grede has expertise in addressing design for optimal casting production while not only meeting fit, form, and function requirements, but also aiming to offer weight-saving ideas with improved manufacturability. 

Engineers with product knowledge use advanced computer optimization tools, such as Optistruct, Inspire, and Tosca, to identify a better structure, reducing mass with equal or improved structural integrity, resulting in a more efficient design.  

Our knowledge and experience allow us to navigate the intricacies of the casting process, ensuring that the optimized design also includes design for manufacturing. 

Material Optimization

Material expertise enables us to pinpoint the optimal materials that meet the product requirements and deliver the highest efficiency in production while minimizing costs.  

Alternative or higher-strength materials may allow design modifications and lightweighting without sacrificing performance.  

Our expertise enables us to take full advantage of material options, determine the grade of iron based on requirements, and select the material best suited for the application. 

Advanced Manufacturing Techniques

Our 3D printers for our sand cores can produce complex geometries that are optimized for lightweighting without the constraints of traditional core-making processes.  

In addition to production 3D core printing, Grede’s 3D prototype printing in plastics allows us to quickly replicate early product designs to enhance product development and support ancillary tooling development, such as end effectors and gating components.  

Design for Manufacturing

Design for manufacturing involves optimizing functional design and manufacturing design in parallel. From the outset of Grede’s involvement, design for manufacturing is integrated into the design and development process.  

Grede collaborates with its customers to design and develop products by leveraging our product-knowledgeable engineers and extensive expertise in foundry engineering. These products are optimized for functional requirements and manufacturing, resulting in lightweight, cost-effective solutions. 

Casting Technical Excellence

Want to take a Casting 101 Class to understand the basics of how to design an efficient casting? Our engineering and sales teams are on the road. They can visit your office during our Engineering Roadshow to provide you with the basics of the technical world of castings and give you a glimpse of what our engineering team provides. 

In Summary

For the best results, involve Grede’s full-service engineering team early in the design stages before the design is locked. Going further with Grede is possible because we go there together.

Have questions? Contact Jeff Paxton at jeff.paxton@grede.com.