Every manufactured product is the sum of its parts, whether off-the-shelf or custom made. Custom parts developed with Rapid Prototyping and Internet-based technologies
actually contribute more value to a complete manufactured product.
Custom parts play a huge, yet rarely discussed role in the manufacturing industry. Whether custom-made, purpose designed, or off-the-shelf, parts for manufactured products create a ripple that affects almost everyone around the world. Parts generate revenue to sustain business, business sustains employees, employees sustain communities, communities sustain governments, and governments sustain other governments that, we hope, sustain a workable world in which we are all
interdependent.
This brings us back to the perspective that parts are the center of the universe. Harnessing the “power of the part” provides a smarter approach to develop and control the costs associated with designing and manufacturing parts. Rapid prototyping is the emerging technology that brings manufacturing into this twenty-first century.
There are a number of rapid prototyping (RP) technologies available today that let manufacturers save time and money before they ever consider mass manufacturing. Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) are the most popular.
Prototyping parts quickly achieves cost savings in both lead-time and quality.
Every day that a part is not ready for installation is a day that money is not made. Prototypes can be done in as little as 2 days. Plus, you can run tests on the parts depending on their material properties.
Manufacturers are able to test for fit, form and function to ensure that quality
parts go into the finished product. Testing also eliminates the risk that a large order arrives only to be found out of spec, of inferior quality, or that they simply don’t fit the application. With prototyping technologies, product developers ensure that the parts they need will be correct the first time and on time. Savings are generated immediately!
In addition, Web-Based Instant Online Quoting eliminates days or weeks of waiting on quotes for critical parts. This new technology revolutionizes the world of product development, accelerating the quote, assuring product managers that critical parts will arrive in the time required and that they will meet and exceed quality
standards. Since time equals money, imagine the money saved simply by getting your quotes online, instantly!
With the latest Rapid Prototyping processes and Instant Online Quoting, product development communities will shorten the lifecycle of the manufacturing process,
delivering top-quality products to the market faster, better and easier than ever before.
::Design World::
Filed Under: Digital manufacturing