About Us

Background

Question: How much does a bolt cost? Answer: About 25 times what you paid for it. A recent study conducted by an automotive OEM on the installed cost of threaded fasteners in a mid-sized vehicle platform. The results show that the cost of the fastener is only 4% of the total. Approximately 70% of warranty costs and 20% of product recalls are fastener related Automotive Industry Estimates

The genesis for Archetype Joint was the realization that greater emphasis on joining and fastening will generally result in a higher return on investment than other profitability initiatives.

Following are some reasons for this:

• Product failure occurs much more frequently at interfaces than within components.
• More than half of assembly labor in most products is absorbed by fastening and joining. By extension these operations also account for the majority of production floor space.
• Responsibility for assembly implementation often falls through the cracks between design and manufacturing, leading to a variety of start-up delays and ineffective problem-solving.
• There is a common attitude that if attachment methods are "off the shelf" there is no need to engineer the joint.
• A risk vs. reward imbalance exists - If a bolt comes loose in the field, it is perceived as a manufacturing problem because bolted joints are so "common and simple". However, if an innovative fastening approach fails it's a design problem. No wonder carry-over solutions are so often used.
• Joint performance is greatly influenced by part and process variables that can't be accurately predicted through numerical analysis. The physical testing requires specialized equipment and experience that isn't available in all but the largest organizations.

 

Fastening and Joining in Product Development

Our experience includes being key members of the organizations acknowledged in the majority of successful applications of simplicity-based design initiatives. Whether implemented as Lean, Lean Design®, Design for Assembly (DFA), Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA®), or Value Engineering (VA/VE), these initiatives all strive to eliminate product complexity and production waste.

Joints come under intense scrutiny when simplifying a design through part count reduction because more joints mean more parts. Therefore, two important drivers for developing lean, simple products are the number of joints that can be dependably eliminated, and the reliability with which the surviving joints can be designed. This is our fundamental focus at Archetype Joint. First, examining the design architecture to determine whether the current joints need to exist at all and then, by consideration of both performance and production needs, designing the remaining joints around the best fastening or joining method. For example, while a commonly held belief is that threaded fasteners are used to "hold things together", they are really best at being able to "take things apart". By asking simple questions of each joint, such as "Do the components move in operation? Is the movement linear or rotary? Will the joint need to be serviced? Are the joint components the same material?" one can classify the joint and potential attachment techniques. However, if the joint does not require service, movement or different material, it is always a candidate for elimination.

Because we have technical and practical background in both design and in manufacturing, you can be certain that our work addresses the production needs of efficiency, safety, and plant integration as well as design integrity and cost.

In short, the influence of fastening and joining is analogous it to the "iceberg effect". The observable impact of fasteners, the small portion of cost attributable to them, is dangerously misleading. The true impact is only appreciated by looking deeper at the direct and indirect costs required for installation, rework and field failures.

 

Experience

Following are some consulting and testing assignments Archetype Joint has recently completed :

• Joint validation and testing for several automotive OEM and Tier One suppliers
• Design recommendations for fastener sizing, selection, installation methods, specifications and process verification, for a multi-partner defense system development.
• Generation of fastener cost reduction opportunities and installation process improvements for alternative energy vehicles.
• Design assessment and recommendations for sheet feeder manufacturer, with emphasis on joint design.
• Proposals for alternative joining and fastening techniques for a bus manufacturer. Methods tested included; thread forming fasteners, drill screws, solid and blind rivets, crimping and adhesives Also conducted fastener rationalization study and performed VDI 2230 calculations and torque audits.
• Concept-to-production joint development of a revolutionary and very successful recreational vehicle. This included the development of several custom semi-automatic assembly systems.
• Competitive benchmarking for domestic automotive OEM of the joint parameters and residual torque of engines and transmissions. The data will be used in the development of a global power train.
• Studied and solved problem with retained clamp load through use of ultrasonic measurement
• Torque-Tension, torque-angle, retained tension, slip load testing for safety-critical vehicle joint.
• Conducted a multi-day workshop for a satellite OEM and suppliers for the purpose of recommending and evaluating lower cost structural fastening methods for composite structures
• Designed an innovative heavy truck accessory, featuring a revolutionary installation method. The design allows multiple paths to intellectual property protection for what was commonly viewed as a commodity segment.
• Assessed the root cause and proposed solutions for late-stage test failures of a guided weapons system being fast-tracked to active deployment.
• Performed an independent assessment of a unique automotive after-market accessory
• Performed tests to establish the installation parameters for a new outdoor lighting system.

Having worked with clients across the full scope of product development, we understand that fastening and joining decisions should not drive the product development process, but should instead reflect earlier product architecture decisions. We are skilled not only in integrating joint design into the larger context of product architecture, but in actually making that architecture simpler and more competitive. Heeding da Vinci's belief that to generate the best ideas we must, "Think of the end before the beginning", at Archetype Joint we constantly "Thinking outside the joint".

DFMA® is a registered trademark of Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc.
Lean Design® is a registered trademark of Munro & Associates, Inc.