Why do we need ATKINS?

Current products are generally wasteful in all aspects from design & manufacture to the final distribution to the consumer / customer. This is mainly a consequence of conventional processes that restricts our current design, manufacture and supply chain as follows:

- DESIGN: Current products are far from optimal. The requirement to Design for Manufacture (DFM) dictates that over-weight; sub-functional components are manufactured that are inefficient in their operation. Although complex geometries such as honeycomb structures and micro-lattices could be advantageous to the weight of products for example, their complexity and cost of manufacture often results in components being manufactured from solid material instead. This is both wasteful and increases the weight of components parts. The functionalist of component parts are also compromised by DFM, as current machining and moulding operations introduce constraints such as material wall thickness and the position of structural ribs and bosses. Again effective both the efficiently of material usage and overall part weight.

- MANUFACTURE: Many of today’s manufacturing processes are highly wasteful in their operation. Destructive manufacturing techniques, such as machining, result in the removal of large amounts of bulk material in order to produce the end-use part – often machining operations can result in over 90% waste material. Additionally, forming techniques such as casting and injection moulding require the production of suitable moulds and formers that expend significant energy, limit geometrical freedom, extend manufacturing lead times and result in multi-stage processes.

- DISTRIBUTION: The requirement to locate manufacturing at the site of, say, the injection mould tool or high speed machining centre requires that an expensive supply chain and transportation network is necessary. This requirement adds considerable energy costs to the product and, ultimately, the environment.