Ready to test

Austria based KTM Sportmotorcycle AG builds just 110,000 motorcycles a year. By contrast, industry leader Honda usually produces monthly more than a million units, on average. So, how does a relatively small, niche builder like KTM compete in a market dominated by a Japanese manufacturing giant? First and foremost, KTM produces only high performance bikes, which are, famously, 'ready-to-race' the moment they leave the factory. In many off-road races. And with over 130 world titles, a part-failure due to a material or design defect can have serious implications not just for the competitor, but also for the company and its hard-won reputation. Helmut Gröbner is KTM group leader for plastic components, and heads-up a team of 10 designers. "The pressure on the product development team is enormous," he says. "If a plastic part is approved for production it has to be 100% right. We leave nothing to chance. Our customers trust us implicitly." "Our first project with Proto Labs' rapid injection moulding service Protomold was a cover for a silencer on the exhaust," says Mr. Gröbner. "Our budget for tooling was only €25 - 30,000 and we couldn't risk going straight to production with a new design." No amount of virtual testing can guarantee a durable part. The only way to test a part is to make it, then subject it to extremes of stress, temperature, load etc. A prototype should be as close to the final production version as possible, including the material. "Time was also short, but a colleague remembered seeing an ad for Proto Labs. So, we gave it a go, took delivery of the prototype and in testing quickly discovered the part we had designed in plastic wasn't durable enough. Had we not made the prototype with the help of Proto Labs, we would have wasted a great deal of time, money and ended up with a sub-standard part on the bike."