b'Mitsubishi Materials U.S.A.When designing parts, considering the manufacturing process can result in a better product, reduced cycle time and lower costs.By Frank Burke on artificial intelligence protocols, have added demands for decision-making to the overall W hile the primary consideration of a partprocess. challenge can arise in situations in designer or design team is the functional- Another ity of a part, the manufacturing process and thewhich the design function is entirely separate end product can be improved significantly byfrom manufacturingfor example, when job taking into account various elements related toshops are requested to quote based on a CAD manufacturing, including machinability, tooling,file from a manufacturer. In some cases, the part assembly, desired finish and economy of pro- in question cannot be made based on the ini-duction. This is especially true as parts becometial design. Different families of parts also can more complex, exotic materials become more common and CAD systems and other design protocols become more technologically ad- A 3D image (above) is displayed of a specially designed vanced. New design tools, such as those basedcutting tool.30SEPTEMBER 2020 DesigningParts.indd 30 8/17/20 10:24 AM'