Halcyon produces parts for the new electric Alpine! Indeed, the car manufacturer Renault Sport and the equipment manufacturer Valeo have recently established a partnership with the company Halcyon for the design and manufacture of parts for the assembly of the vehicle.

The car manufacturer has chosen Halcyon as its partner for the design of small series parts, using incremental forming. This process allows a reduction in tool costs of more than 80%.

Halcyon has indeed developed a know-how in the use of this forming process, especially in the design of complex high precision parts.

What is incremental sheet forming?

The principle of incremental forming: a forming tool with a spherical head will follow predefined contours with a continuous movement on the surface of the sheet. Progressively, in negative vertical increments, the tool will deform the sheet locally until the final shape is reached.

What are the benefits?

First of all, it is a low investment technology. Incremental forming can be easily used on CNC milling machines or robots.

Moreover, the process uses simple and generic tools. Indeed, to form incrementally, there is no need for complex and massive tooling (punches and dies) as for stamping for example.

Secondly, incremental forming is a process perfectly adapted to small series production or prototyping: the cost of the forming tool is largely lower than that of stamping, but the cycle time is much higher. This technology is therefore reserved for small production runs. For high production, the cost of producing a die is compensated by the higher production speed per part and therefore the lower cost per part; the stamping process is therefore preferred.

Finally, this type of process constitutes a real industrial breakthrough innovation, particularly in the automotive industry.

Halcyon builds its own tooling

Through the technology development, Halcyon has acquired the necessary skills to define and develop its own tooling. The tools are thus designed, manufactured and assembled 100% in-house at Halcyon!

This allows our customers to benefit from the reactivity and know-how of our team. Thanks to our ability to make our own tooling, we have reduced costs, delays and non-quality.

If you want to know more, don’t hesitate to contact us!