In this work, a concurrent engineering approach was applied to the development of a plastic
dumbbell, a part used in the recreational sector. The design goal for the part was to
reduce the overall weight and to improve the thickness distribution. Simulation of the
extrusion blow moulding process and preliminary experimental trials were performed concurrently
to assist in the development of the part. Once the numerical modelling of the part
was done, improvement of the production process was performed based upon the desired
objective function, i.e., a uniform part thickness distribution and/or minimal part weight.
The optimisation was performed in two sequential steps, weight optimisation then thickness
optimisation, by the systematic manipulation of the operating conditions, such as
the parison dimensions. A process modelling methodology was employed to demonstrate
the reduction in the part development time using the new model-based approach. Results
showed that span time for the part development cycle could be reduced by approximately
60%, while the actual man-hours could be reduced by approximately 30% using a concurrent
engineering approach