Case Study: Derby Cellular Products, Inc. achieves a 50% reduction in extrusion costs with ANSYS Polyflow

Computer Simulation Helps to Reduce Extrusion Cost by 50 Percent

Derby Cellular Products, Inc., a manufacturer of molded and extruded EPDM seals, struggled to profitably produce a complex-profile environmental seal using a single‑cavity die — an approach that would have required roughly 20 extrusion trials and about $16,000 in trial costs for a single profile. To avoid low production rates and high trial-and-error expenses, Derby turned to ANSYS and its ANSYS Polyflow software to evaluate whether a two‑cavity die could be manufactured successfully.

Using ANSYS Polyflow, engineers imported the CAD model, specified material and operating conditions, balanced flow between the two cavities, optimized die‑land length to reduce swell, and ran inverse extrusion analyses to compute die‑lip geometry while accounting for wall slip. ANSYS Polyflow identified that the polymer slipped more than 25% against the die wall (leading to an adjusted slip coefficient), and the second fabricated dual‑cavity die produced a profile that matched the target geometry. The optimized design was achieved on the second trial and reduced part production cost by approximately 50%.