Wisconsin’s Evology Adds Digital Sheet Forming to Service Roster

Evology, a service bureau based in Wisconsin and specializing in serving strategic sectors like aerospace and defense, has added digital sheet forming (DSF) to its repertoire of manufacturing capabilities. Evology uses the G15, a machine made by Desktop Metal subsidiary Figur, which leverages a ceramic tool on an XY gantry to shape sheet metal, currently including aluminum and steel.

As with additive manufacturing (AM), the main selling point with DSF is the ability to bypass the need for tooling, enabling reduced lead time and cost for low-volume orders. This is of course a paramount objective especially in the types of industries forming the core of Evology’s existing customer base, with the new capabilities also widening the potential design freedom for the product developers with whom Evology partners.

In a press release about Evology’s addition of Figur’s G15 DSF machine to its arsenal of manufacturing processes, Sean Momsen, the VP of Business Development and Marketing at Evology, said, “With no expensive and long lead tooling, this technology opened the door for parts to be made in metal that could never justify the tooling costs. Digital Sheet Metal Forming adds another tool in our toolbox to help bring our customers’ products to market faster and in the intended material.”

The VP of Operations at Evology, Chris Keidl, said, “We always keep a pulse on new and innovative technologies that might benefit our customers. We look for step changes in manufacturing speed and capabilities and are proud to help bring this change to the rapid prototyping and low volume production market as the first contract manufacturing company to offer this technology as a service. This isn’t just another ‘additive material development‘ for an existing process or technology. This technology is a true change and revolution in manufacturing.”

As huge sums of money are poured into multinationals in furtherance of the US’s reshoring goals, it’s worth keeping in mind that the greatest urgency in meeting those objectives surrounds bolstering small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in existing US manufacturing hubs like Wisconsin. Contract manufacturing operations like Evology represent some of the most vital links between those huge multinationals and the SMEs at the heart of US industry.

The more technological fields that those companies tap into, the more prepared they are to help address the current and future bottlenecks in global supply chains. For years, astute AM industry professionals have been pointing out that the best role for additive technologies is “one tool in the toolbox” for advanced manufacturing as a whole. We are now witnessing in real time exactly what this means in practice for the overall industrial landscape.

Images courtesy of Evology