Manufacturing Design and Cost Analysis for Customer-oriented Rubber Mat Product using Abrasive Waterjet Cutting

บทคัดย่อ

Molding is a widely used technique for large-scale manufacturing of rubber products, ensuring profitability for companies.  Advances in rubber-based products have significantly improved consumer satisfaction by fostering direct engagement between manufacturers and customers. This study aims to develop a framework for transforming a blank rubber mat into a custom-designed jigsaw rubber mats using abrasive waterjet (AWJ) cutting. Customers can design their own rubber mats and submit digital images, which are then processed and cut by a waterjet machine to create jigsaw rubber mats. The optimal cutting path was developed based on the number of cutting points and the similarity index to ensure precise cutting operations. The production cost was subsequently analyzed, as the uniqueness of each design influences it. The evaluation of toolpath optimization and AWJ cutting application revealed that the number of cutting points could be reduced by more than 50% compared to the original fine cutting points while maintaining a similarity index above 99%. This reduction significantly shortened cutting time. The manufacturing of customized jigsaw rubber mats incurs only a minor additional cost, approximately 13% of the overall manufacturing cost of regular rubber mats. These findings suggest that this approach could provide manufacturers with a competitive advantage by enabling the production of customer-oriented products that are both responsive and economically feasible.