The transition from prototyping to large scale production can be a complex and expensive process for many companies. Without proper planning, decisions that were adequate for the production of a handful of parts will become extremely inefficient for producing thousands.
At Polyhistor International, we’re experts in both prototyping and high-volume CNC machining. While many view these as different domains with distinct skill sets, in our experience, success in each area is closely related. That’s because high-volume production isn’t simply about faster equipment or greater capacity—it’s about optimizing the details of your design and planning from day one.
Find out how Polyhistor sets you up for a seamless transition to production.
The Critical Role of Early Design Choices
Many manufacturers focus primarily on fit and function during the prototyping phase, with an eye toward moving into the next phase of product development as quickly as possible. Yet seemingly unimportant features or decisions that may have little effect on function can cause significant issues down the line if customers aren’t planning for high-volume production machining from the earliest stages.
In low volumes, a small inefficiency may minimally affect production times, but in high volumes, it could compound into a significant cost driver. If you partner with Polyhistor early in your project, our complete prototyping services include proactive design review to identify and address these potential bottlenecks before they become expensive issues. Some manufacturers may ignore these details, but we are always focused on our partners’ success as part of our customer-centric approach.
If customers approach our CNC machine shop after prototyping without any design for manufacturing (DFM) review, we frequently discover design elements that could have been optimized earlier. However, at this stage, they will face a challenging choice: invest additional funds and time in design revisions or proceed with a less efficient manufacturing process.
Key Areas in High-Volume Production Design
Design for Manufacturing
We evaluate every detail of your design specifically for efficient production. Features such as wall thickness and corner radii, for instance, can be extremely costly in large volumes, so we always discuss simple changes with our partners that employ cost reduction strategies while maintaining functionality or design intent.
Whether it’s reducing overly tight tolerances, simplifƒying geometry, or ensuring compatibility with automated processes, our goal is to align your design with the most efficient production methods possible.
Manufacturing Methods
Our facility houses a variety of equipment – including 3D printing – and our expertise enables creative solutions for our customers’ manufacturing challenges. We evaluate multiple production approaches to determine the most cost-effective method for your volume requirements.
For example, we often find that a part that may seem to be a natural fit for CNC milling will actually be more efficiently manufactured at large scale in our turning center. Our turning center allows us to load multiple bars of stock and run hundreds of parts lights out with minimal supervision.
Surface Finishing
Surface treatments add complexity to high-volume production that should be considered early in the design process. When parts require a surface treatment like zinc finishing, tolerances become especially critical—sometimes, designs specify tolerances that are tighter than what this surface finishing process can reliably achieve.
We collaborate closely with both our partners and our suppliers to coordinate precise specifications, and early discussion of these finishing considerations helps us avoid costly issues.
Partner With Polyhistor for Seamless Scale-Up
By designing for scale from the start with Polyhistor, your transition to high-volume manufacturing is as efficient as possible. And once your design is in place, we can expertly manufacture your product: our top-quality CNC machining services combined with our engineering expertise allow us to achieve high throughput in any project.
Request a quote today from our Jacksonville machine shop!