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Uplevel your DFM knowledge with our master class. Learn about how "least effort design" can make CNC machined parts more economical, faster, and less risky to produce.

Fictiv Enterprise delivers trusted on-demand manufacturing for large or complex organizations seeking faster, more agile supply chains with a reduced physical footprint. San Francisco, June 15, 2021 — Fictiv, the leader in high-quality manufacturing on-demand through its Digital Manufacturing Ecosystem, today unveiled Fictiv Enterprise, an industry-first digital manufacturing solution to meet the robust quality and security requirements of […]

What is a macro trend? While a trend is a general shift toward a specific thing, a macro trend is a persistent and widespread shift on a global scale. Examples include urbanization, automation, and globalization. It’s much longer-lasting than a fad and tends to change national or global culture and practices. Policymakers and manufacturers need to […]

When talking about CNC machining finishing options, you might have heard about “as-machined”, “anodizing”, coatings, or blasting among others. But before going into detail for each option, we need to clarify two terms: “surface finish” and “surface finishing”. Sometimes they are misused, which can create confusion. Surface finish: Surfaces have characteristics produced by the manufacturing […]

It’s not always easy, but don’t make it harder than it needs to be. Moving from 3D printing to injection molding isn’t as simple as just using your computer-aided design (CAD) file with a different piece of equipment. Because 3D printing offers greater design freedom than injection molding, you may need to modify your CAD […]

As a mechanical engineer or designer, how much time do you spend thinking about how your parts are going to be machined? Even more specifically, do you know what kinds of tools will be used to make different features or geometries? This article will be your guide to the most common tools used in CNC […]

Your CNC machining process is only as good as your workholding setup! CNC work holding methods keep your part rigidly in place and reduce the stiffness. You can also refer to work holding as fixturing. A good CNC workholding setup is key for locating the next part to be machined. Fixturing is also important for […]

Learn how Fictiv helps Nexkey unlock the secret to low-volume/high-precision NPI.

Learn how HEBI Robotics streamlined their supply chain with Fictiv, to increase speed and agility.

Learn how Mira Labs leveraged Fictiv’s Multi Jet Fusion printing solution to produce customer-ready products for customer feedback.

Learn how Gecko Robotics partnered with Fictiv to manufacture tight tolerance custom robotics parts and accelerate development schedules.

Animax Designs partnered with Fictiv to get reliable, high-quality parts at speed. With Fictiv, Animax Designs knows that they will receive the quality parts they need, when they need them.

Learn how Alea Labs partnered with Fictiv to prototype and manufacture injection molded parts for their smart HVAC system.

Discover insights from a survey of over 200 senior manufacturing decision makers.

The robotics industry is poised to take advantage of the digital transformation that’s happening at every stage of the value chain. Digital manufacturing, supported by a highly vetted manufacturing network, has the power to accelerate development cycles for robotics companies in highly competitive markets by increasing supply chain sourcing efficiencies. Moving to a digitally-enabled supply […]

Healthcare’s digital evolution is real. It’s happening at every stage of the value chain in every segment of this critical space. Tightened development cycles, resilient supply chains that support rapid change while diminishing risk, and vigorous controls, certifications, and traceability models to ensure patient safety are important steps on a path to a viable healthcare […]

According to IDC research, manufacturers able to establish flexible and resilient supply chains, innovate products, rapidly ramp up production, and create value from data-driven services will be among the winners in the “next normal.” This IDC Perspective provides a view of how manufacturing organizations can benefit from a digital quote-to-order platform. Such solutions offer lower […]

Conducted with Dimensional Research, the fifth annual manufacturing industry report polled hundreds of senior manufacturing and supply chain decision makers at companies producing medical device, robotics, automotive, aerospace, and consumer electronics products. Key themes from the 30-page report found: COVID-19 Has Negatively Harmed Most Businesses (89%) and Industries Digital and AI Advances are Important, But […]

Supply chain unpredictability is a reality of life. Whether it’s a pandemic, natural disaster, an economic slowdown, or something else – there will always be “something” that comes up. Only 4% of companies feel fully prepared to address new risks to their supply chains. It’s becoming more difficult for supply chain managers to appropriately deal […]

In 2006, Nintendo took the world of interactive gaming by storm. The launch of the Wii welcomed gamers and, more importantly, non-gamers alike to physically interact with a virtual world. Whether the user was playing a competitive round of Wii Tennis or customizing their Mii, the Wii remote (otherwise known as the Wiimote) invited users […]

During pandemic lockdown, I noticed several issues with my home, including the broken sprinkler head, dog stains on the carpet, and my mother’s spice cabinet. My mother has a metric ton of spices that used to have labels that have rubbed off after constant use. I bought a portable label maker to replenish the labels […]

One of the coolest things about Fictiv’s San Francisco HQ office is that it’s dog-friendly! Our furry friends can work alongside us everyday, getting their daily dose of head scratches and belly rubs, and we get a daily dose of adorableness. For National Dog Day, we thought it would be fitting to test out and […]

For our teardown of the Anki Vector Robot, we were joined in the studio by Leanne Cushing, captain of Team Valkyrie on Battlebots.  Anki’s Vector Robot, released in late 2018, was designed to listen and respond to its user, interact with its surroundings, recognize people and objects, and avoid obstacles. When released, the robot sold […]

In this clean-shaven teardown, we’re celebrating Father’s Day and looking at two different electric shavers—the Philips Norelco S9311 and the Braun series 7. We put the two shavers head to head, with our first Fictiv employee to become a dad volunteering his face to see which one left the best shave. Then we put them […]

Recently, we did a teardown of the iRobot® Braava® 380t Mopping Robot, to understand the different mechanical and manufacturing design elements that help to get you those squeaky-clean floors. Before we got started, we decided to take a step back and evaluate what features would make up a good mopping robot. The two items we […]

Download this PDF to get access to VBA commands and Solidworks Macros and scripts to improve your mechanical engineering workflow efficiency.

How can you make your designs easier for your friends on the manufacturing floor and, well, more elegant? This handy checklist summarizes 10 essential design for assembly (DFA) rules that will help you simplify designs as much as possible, to save your company in a big way, both in manufacturing time and in reducing defects.

In the product design world, it’s common to use a tool called a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to improve a design or process. FMEAs are commonly separated into two different categories, depending on their application: A Design FMEA (D-FMEA) is used in product design to identify possible design weaknesses and failure modes. A […]

Get our DFM for CNC machining checklist, which summarizes the essential design for manfuacturability rules engineers should apply.

Designing products for load bearing applications can pose a multitude of challenges, so it’s important for a designer to have a “toolbox” of techniques that improve design quality. Designing for stiffness through geometric controls is a top tool in that box. In order to solve engineering problems related to stiffness, you need to know a […]

Press fits adapt to many situations, hold parts in perfect alignment, and are easily introduced and form a lasting bond. Press fits are the perfect choice for designs like machined parts of similar materials with tight tolerances requiring close-tolerance alignment. How do you know if the interference is enough to hold the parts together in […]

To say that the past year has been a wild ride for most—if not all—companies is a vast understatement. We have witnessed supply chains under stress like never before; we saw global logistics networks scrambling to deliver; and we were inspired as the manufacturing industry regained its “hero” status by producing essential goods throughout this […]

In bringing a new product to market, it is a progressive process to consider and then optimize mechanical designs for manufacturability. Early on, it’s critical to learn the fundamentals of what can and cannot be manufactured. But there’s another step in the learning process: what can be done, but probably shouldn’t be done. “High effort” […]

Tolerance Stack-Ups are a vital component of any engineer’s workflow, to ensure successful mechanical design fit. But successful engineers in demanding industries such as medical, aerospace, and automotive, need to rely on data to do more than this. They need data to improve real design outcomes beyond “guess and check” — to improve design understanding […]

In this webinar, we explore how to reduce manufacturing effort in the most complex designs applicable to industries such as medical devices, robotics, and aerospace. Here we will specify key risk mitigation strategies for high precision, high geometric complexity, and extreme part sizes (large and small). You’ll walk away knowing: Costs and benefit trade-offs at […]

In this webinar, we explore how to optimize higher complexity designs for manufacturability, where effort cannot be completely minimized. We will also explore the sources of manufacturing effort and key techniques for reducing relative effort for parts that are faster, more economic, and less risky to produce.  You’ll walk away knowing: How effort scales for […]

In this webinar, we introduce you to the concept of design for least effort CNC machining. This concept will take you beyond the fundamentals of DFM (design for manufacturability), which is about do’s and don’t, and help you uplevel your DFM skills to design parts that are cheaper, faster, and less risky to manufacture.  You’ll […]