Developing an RPA for Augmenting Sheet-Metal Die Design Process

Abstract

The mass production of identical products with high precision and accuracy heavily relies on dies and molds. In particular, the project-based die manufacturing process is crucial for introducing new products to the market. To produce a car body, an average of 1000–1250 unique dies are required, with no backups available. Simultaneously commissioning these dies is one of the most expensive and critical processes in automotive and other forming industries. However, with increasing technology and customer expectations, designers must design products quickly and efficiently to beat competitors to the market. Traditional production planning software is not well-suited for project-based work, such as die manufacturing, and often results in increased project duration due to a lack of integration and variability. To address this issue, this study proposes the use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with artificial intelligence methods to enable automatic data transfer from design to production. The findings of this study provide recommendations for efficient project management in the single manufacturing industry. © 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.