MTR saw early gains from using 3D technology in production, but it was not until they encountered a downtime in the CX wagons that are over 50 years old that they began to use the technology.
Barik Yas is Warranty Manager & Project Leader AMS-G at MTR Tech and has a burning interest in technology. For him, it was a no brainer to use 3D technology as soon as there was space and an opportunity to use it within the company. So when he was reached by the information that the microphone holders that needed to be replaced in the 50-year-old subway wagons could no longer be obtained and were obsolete, he was given the opportunity to run his first 3D project within the company.
He contacted Strålfors 3D Solutions and Tomas Lundström, and with his help, the team scanned the obsolete products and then simulated their durability and design to find out how the product design could be improved so as not to break in the same way as previous products did.
The result was delivered within 7 days after the first contact, Barik had three prototypes of improved microphone holders to make a decision about. The products were tested and they decided to mass-produce two of the prototypes.
The microphone holders are an important tool in the subway and are used several hundred times a day and require robust construction to last. Every time our locomotive drivers stop at a platform, they use the microphone to announce that the train is leaving and on each locomotive, there are two mounted microphone holders mounted, which over time is converted into a lot of use, says Barik who is responsible for part of the project.
He also says that the technology has enabled an internal dialogue about obsolete products as well as stock items, sustainability, and production costs. Another advantage he sees with the technology is how easy it is to go from a broken or obsolete product to a scanned, simulated, and new more powerful product in such a short time.
The microphone holders in the modern C20 train have also been replaced with new and improved 3D-printed microphone holders. It is a result that comes from the successful project with the CX model. He also believes that more obsolete products will be replaced with 3D-printed versions in the future and that the technology will enable a lot for the company.
Tomas Lundström, who is Head of 3D at Strålfors and who leads the development in 3D within Postnord, says that the spare parts market will change drastically in the near future and that the companies and organizations that are currently in large stocks will be able to print these “just-in-time” in the future through our technology. There are few technologies that have as great an impact as 3D-print has, he says, and continues to tell how the simulation clarifies the shortcomings in previous designs and which can be remedied with simple methods to then produce new products with much stronger designs.
Articles and products that have no drawing at all can be scanned and then printed in fire-rated material where you go from request to delivered product in a week is not only good, it will be a prerequisite for future productions and repairs with Tomas and Barik filling in that there is a lot in the fact that we as customers need to get more knowledge about what technology can help us with, I am sure that there is a large number of blacks out there with customers who are struggling to search large databases or books to find spare parts and it is a time-consuming process that is completely redundant and costly and can be completely eliminated with this technology.
This is how MTR orders from Strålfors:
1. We disassemble the microphone holder and send it to Strålfors, who then 3D-scan the article and convert it into a digital drawing. There, a simulation is performed to strengthen the weakest points
2. The articles are then placed on the platform for future productions
3. We choose which material we want to use (we use PA12 which is one
fire-rated polymer (plastic material))
4. We place an order for the number we need and then get one
estimated delivery time in the system
5. The products are delivered within a couple of days and we follow the whole delivery in the Postnord app
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