INTRODUCTION TO RAPID PROTOTYPING

Rapid prototyping (RP) is a new manufacturing technique that allows for fast fabrication of computer
models designed with three-dimension (3D) computer aided design (CAD) software. RP is used in a
wide variety of industries, from shoe to car manufacturers. This technique allows for fast realizations
of ideas into functioning prototypes, shortening the design time, leading towards successful final
products.

RP technique comprise of two general types: additive and subtractive, each of which has its own pros
and cons. Subtractive type RP or traditional tooling manufacturing process is a technique in which
material is removed from a solid piece of material until the desired design remains. Examples of this
type of RP includes traditional milling, turning/lathing or drilling to more advanced versions -
computer numerical control (CNC), electric discharge machining (EDM). Additive type RP is the
opposite of subtractive type RP. Instead of removing material, material is added layer upon layer to
build up the desired design such as stereolithography, fused deposition modeling (FDM), and 3D
printing.

This tutorial will introduce additive type RP techniques: Selective Laser Sintering (SLS),
Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA), FDM, Inkjet based printing. It will also cover how to properly
prepare 3D CAD models for fabrication with RP techniques.

Rapid Prototyping (RP) can be defined as a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale
model of a part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. What is
commonly considered to be the first RP technique, Stereolithography, was developed by 3D Systems
of Valencia, CA, USA. The company was founded in 1986, and since then, a number of different RP
techniques have become available.

Rapid Prototyping has also been referred to as solid free-form manufacturing, computer automated
manufacturing, and layered manufacturing. RP has obvious use as a vehicle for visualization. In
addition, RP models can be used for testing, such as when an air foil shape is put into a wind tunnel.
RP models can be used to create male models for tooling, such as silicone rubber molds and
investment casts. In some cases, the RP part can be the final part, but typically the RP material is not
strong or accurate enough. When the RP material is suitable, highly convoluted shapes (including
parts nested within parts) can be produced because of the nature of RP.

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Definition:

Rapid Prototyping is basically a additive manufacturing process used to quickly fabricate a

model of a part using 3-D CAM data. It can be defined as layer by layer fabrication of 3D physical
models directly from CAD.

What is Rapid Prototyping?

Rapid Prototyping is the "process of quickly building and evaluating a series of prototypes" early and
often throughout the design process. Prototypes are usually incomplete examples of what a final
product may look like. Each time a prototype is used, a formative evaluation gathers information for
the next, revised prototype. This cycle continues to refine the product until the final needs and
objectives are met. The following diagram demonstrates the non-linear nature of Rapid Prototyping.

Why Rapid Prototyping?

The reasons of Rapid Prototyping are

 To increase effective communication.

 To decrease development time.
 To decrease costly mistakes.
 To minimize sustaining engineering changes.
 To extend product lifetime by adding necessary features and eliminating redundant
features early in the design.
Rapid Prototyping decreases development time by allowing corrections to a product to be made early
in the process. By giving engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and purchasing a look at the
product early in the design process, mistakes can be corrected and changes can be made while they
are still inexpensive. The trends in manufacturing industries continue to emphasize the following:

• Increasing number of variants of products.

• Increasing product complexity.
• Decreasing product lifetime before obsolescence.
• Decreasing delivery time.
Rapid Prototyping improves product development by enabling better communication in a concurrent
engineering environment.

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How does Rapid Prototyping Work?

Rapid Prototyping, also known as 3D printing, is an additive manufacturing technology. The process
begins with taking a virtual design from modeling or computer aided design (CAD) software. The 3D
printing machine reads the data from the CAD drawing and lays down successive layers of liquid,
powder, or sheet material — building up the physical model from a series of cross sections. These
layers, which correspond to the virtual cross section from the CAD model, are automatically joined
together to create the final shape.

Rapid Prototyping uses a standard data interface, implemented as the STL file format, to translate
from the CAD software to the 3D prototyping machine. The STL file approximates the shape of a
part or assembly using triangular facets.

Typically, Rapid Prototyping systems can produce 3D models within a few hours. Yet, this can vary
widely, depending on the type of machine being used and the size and number of models being
produced.

NEED FOR THE COMPRESSION IN THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

 To increase effective communication

 To decrease development time
 To decrease costly mistakes
 To minimize sustaining engineering changes
 To extend product life time by adding necessary features & eliminating redundant features
early in the design.
TRENDS IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES EMPHASIS THE FOLLOWING

 Increasing the no of variants of products

 Increase in product complexity
 Decrease in product lifetime before obsolescence
 Decrease in delivery time
 Product development by Rapid Prototyping by enabling better communication
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

The development of Rapid Prototyping is closely tied in with the development of applications of
computers in the industry. The declining cost of computers, especially of personal and mini
computers, has changed the way a factory works. The increase in the use of computers has spurred
the advancement in many computer-related areas including Computer-Aided Design (CAD),
Computer-Aided

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Manufacturing (CAM) and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine tools. In particular, the
emergence of RP systems could not have been possible without the existence of CAD. However,
from careful examinations of the numerous RP systems in existence today, it can be easily deduced
that other than CAD, many other technologies and advancements in other fields such as
manufacturing systems and materials have also been crucial in the development of RP systems. Table
1.1 traces the historical development of relevant technologies related to RP from the estimated date
of inception.

Table: 1.1 Historical development of Rapid Prototyping and related technologies

Year of Inception Technology

1770 Mechanization

1946 First Computer

First Numerical Control (NC)

1952
Machine Tool

1960 First commercial Laser

1961 First commercial Robot

1963 First Interactive Graphics System

First commercial Rapid Prototyping

1988
System

First Phase: Manual Prototyping

Prototyping had begun as early as humans began to develop tools to help them live. However,
prototyping as applied to products in what is considered to be the first phase of prototype
development began several centuries ago. In this early phase, prototypes typically are not very
sophisticated and fabrication of prototypes takes on average about four weeks, depending on the level
of complexity and representativeness. The techniques used in making these prototypes tend to be
craft-based and are usually extremely labour intensive.

Second Phase: Soft or Virtual Prototyping

As application of CAD/CAE/CAM become more widespread, the early 1980s saw the evolution of
the second phase of prototyping — Soft or Virtual Prototyping. Virtual prototyping takes on a new
meaning
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as more computer tools become available — computer models can now be stressed, tested, analyzed
and modified as if they were physical prototypes. For example, analysis of stress and strain can be
accurately predicted on the product because of the ability to specify exact material attributes and
properties. With such tools on the computer, several iterations of designs can be easily carried out by
changing the parameters of the computer models.

Also, products and as such prototypes tend to become relatively more complex — about twice the
complexity as before. Correspondingly, the time required to make the physical model tends to
increase tremendously to about that of 16 weeks as building of physical prototypes is still dependent
on craft- based methods though introduction of better precision machines like CNC machines helps.

Even with the advent of Rapid Prototyping in the third phase, there is still strong support for
virtual prototyping. Lee argues that there are still unavoidable limitations with rapid prototyping.
These include material limitations (either because of expense or through the use of materials
dissimilar to that of the intended part), the inability to perform endless what-if scenarios and the
likelihood that little or no reliable data can be gathered from the rapid prototype to perform finite
element analysis (FEA). Specifically, in the application of kinematic/dynamic analysis, he described
a program which can assign physical properties of many different materials, such as steel, ice, plastic,
clay or any custom material imaginable and perform kinematics and motion analysis as if a working
prototype existed. Despite such strengths of virtual prototyping, there is one inherent weakness that
such soft prototypes cannot be tested for phenomena that is not anticipated or accounted for in the
computer program. As such there is no guarantee that the virtual prototype is really problem free.

Third Phase: Rapid Prototyping

Rapid Prototyping of physical parts, or otherwise known as solid freeform fabrication or desktop
manufacturing or layer manufacturing technology, represents the third phase in the evolution of
prototyping. The invention of this series of rapid prototyping methodologies is described as a
“watershed event” [11] because of the tremendous time savings, especially for complicated models.
Though the parts (individual components) are relatively three times as complex as parts made in
1970s, the time required to make such a part now averages only three weeks [9]. Since 1988, more
than twenty different rapid prototyping techniques have emerged.

FUNDAMENTALS OF RAPID PROTOTYPING

a) A model or component is modelled on a Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided

Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) system. The model which represents the physical part to be built

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 must be represented as closed surfaces which unambiguously define an enclosed volume. This
mean that the data must specify the inside, outside and boundary of the model. This
requirement will become redundant if the modelling technique used is solid modelling. This is
by virtue of the technique used, as a valid solid model will automatically be enclosed
volume. This requirement ensures that all horizontal cross sections that are essential to RP are
enclosed curves to create the solid object.
b) The solid or surface model to be built is next converted into a format dubbed the “STL”
(Stereolithography) file format which originates from 3D systems. The STL file format
approximates the surfaces of ten model by polygons. Highly curved surfaces must employ
many polygons, which means that STL files for curved parts can be very large. However,
these are some rapid prototyping systems which also accept IGES (Initial Graphics Exchange
Specifications) data, provided it is of the correct “flavour”.
c) A computer program analyzes a STL file that defines the model to be fabricated and “slices”
the model into cross sections. The cross sections are systematically recreated through the
solidification of either liquids or powders and then combined to form a 3D model. Another
possibility is that the cross sections are already thin, solid laminations and these thin
laminations are glued together with adhesives to form a 3D model. Other similar methods
may also be employed to build the model.
Fundamentally, the development of RP can be seen in four primary areas. The Rapid
Prototyping Wheel depicts these four key aspects of Rapid Prototyping. They are: Input,
Method, Material and Applications.

INPUT

Input refers to the electronic information required to describe the physical object with
3D data. These are two possible starting points- a computer model or a physical model. The
computer model created by a CAD system can be either a surface model or a solid model. On
the other hand, 3D data from the physical model is not at all straight forward. It requires data
acquisition through a method known as reverse engineering. In reverse engineering, a wide
range of equipment can be used, such as CMM (coordinate measuring machine) or a laser
digitizer, to capture data points of the physical model and “reconstruct” it in a CAD system.

METHOD

While they are currently more than 20 vendors for RP systems, the method employed
by each vendor can be generally classified into the following categories: photo-curing, cutting

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 and gluing/joining, melting and solidifying/fusing and joining/binding. Photo-curing can be
further divided into categories of single beam, double laser beams and masked lamp.

MATERIAL

The initial state of material can come in either solid, liquid or powder state. In solid
state, it can come in various forms such as pellets, wire or laminates. The current range
materials include paper, nylon, wax, resins, metals and ceramics.

APPLICATION:

Most of the RP parts are finished or touched up before they are used for their intended
applications. Applications can be grouped into 1. Design 2. Engineering, Analysis, and
planning and 3. Tooling and Manufacturing. A wide range of industries can benefit from RP
and these include, but are not limited to, aerospace, automotive, biomedical, consumer,
electrical and electronics products.

Applications of Rapid

Prototyping RAPID TOOLING

 Patterns for Sand Casting

 Patterns for Investment Casting
 Pattern for Injection
mouldings RAPID
MANUFACTURING

 Short productions run

 Custom made parts
 On-Demand Manufacturing
 Manufacturing of very complex
shapes AEROSPACE & MARINE

 Wind tunnel models

 Functional prototypes
 Boeing’s On-Demand-
Manufacturing AUTOMOTIVE RP
SERVICES

 Needed from concept to production level

 Reduced time to market
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  Functional testing
 Dies & Moulds
BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS - I

 Prosthetic parts
 Use of data from MRI and CT scan to build 3D parts
 3D visualization for education and
training BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS
- II

 Customized surgical implants

 Mechanical bone replicas
 Anthropology
 Forensics
ARCHITECTUR
E

 3D visualization of design space

 Iterations of shape
 Sectioned models
FASHION &
JEWELRY

 Shoe Design
 Jewellery
 Pattern for lost wax
 Other castings

Classification of Rapid Prototyping Systems

LIQUID-BASED

• Stereo lithography (SLA)

• Solid Ground Curing

(SGA) SOLID-BASED

• Fused deposition modeling (FDM)

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• Laminated object manufacturing (LOM)

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 POWDER-BASED

• 3D Printing

• Selective laser sintering (SLS)

• Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS)

Classification of Rapid Prototyping Systems

The professional literature in RP contains different ways of classifying RP processes.

However, one representation based on German standard of production processes classifies RP
processes according to state of aggregation of their original material and is given in figure

Fig 1.1: Classification of Rapid Prototyping Systems

a) Liquid-based
b) Solid-based
c) Powder-based

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Liquid-Based

Liquid based RP systems have the initial form of its materials in liquid state. Through a process
commonly known as curing, the liquid is converted into the solid state. The following RP systems
fall into the following category

i) 3D systems’ Stereolithography apparatus (SLA)

ii) Cubical’s Solid Ground Curing (SGC)
iii) Sony’s Solid reaction Systems (SCS)
iv) CMET’s Solid Object Ultraviolet-Laser Printer (SOUP)
v) Autostrade’s E-Darts
vi) Teijin Seiki’s Soliform Systems
vii) Meiko’s Rapid Prototyping systems for the jewellery Industry
viii) Denken’s SLP
ix) Mitsui’s COLAMN
x) Fockele & Schwarze’s LMS
xi) Light Sculpting
xii) Aaroflex
xiii) Rapid Freeze
xiv) Two Laser Beams
xv) Microfabrication
Solid-Based

Except for powder, solid-based RP systems are meant to encompass all forms of material in
the solid state. In this context, the solid form can include the shape in the form of a wire, a roll,
laminates and pellets. The following RP systems fall into this definition:

i) Cubic Technologies’ Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM)

ii) Stratasys’s Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM)
iii) Kira Corporation’s Paper Laminated Technology (PLT)
iv) 3D Systems’s Multi-Jet Modelling Systems (MJM)
v) Solidscape’s Modelmaker and PatternMaster
vi) Beijing Yinhua’s Slicing Solid Manufacturing (SSM), Melted Extrusion Modelling (MEM)
and Multi-Functional RPM Systems (M-RPM)
vii) CAM-LEM’s CL 100
viii) Ennex Corporation’s Offset Fabbers

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Powder-Based

In a strict sense, powder is by-and-large in the solid state. However, it is intentionally created as a
category outside the solid-based RP systems to mean powder in grain-like form. The following RP
systems fall into the category

i) 3D Systems’s Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

ii) EOS’s EOSINT Systems
iii) Z Corporation’s Three-Dimensional Printing (3DP)
iv) Optomec’s Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS)
v) Soligen’s Direct Shell Production Casting (DSPC)
vi) Fraunhofer’s Multiphase Jet Solidification (MJS)
vii) Acram’s Electron Beam Melting (EBM)
viii) Aeromet Corporation’s Lasform Technology
ix) Precision Optical Manufacturing;s Direct Metal Deposition (DMD)
x) Generi’s RP Systems (GS)
xi) Therics Inc.’s Theriform Technology
xii) Extrude Hone’s Prometal 3D Printing Process
All the above RP Ssytems employ the Joining/Binding method. The method of joining/binding
differs for the above systems in that some employ a laser while others use a binder/glue to achieve
the joining effect.

RPT Basic Process

Although several rapid prototyping techniques exist, all employ the same basic five-step process.
The steps are:

1. Create a CAD model of the design

2. Convert the CAD model to STL format

3. Slice the STL file into thin cross-sectional layers

4. Construct the model one layer atop another

5. Clean and finish the model

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1) CAD Model Creation
First, the object to be built is modelled using a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software
package. Solid modelers, such as Pro/ENGINEER, tend to represent 3-D objects more accurately
than wire-frame modellers such as AutoCAD, and will therefore yield better results. The designer
can use a pre-existing CAD file or may wish to create one expressly for prototyping purposes. This
process is identical for all of the RP build techniques. The basic process is similar across the different
additive type RP technologies. We will use a ball as an example here. It begins with using a CAD
software such as Solidworks to design a 3D computer model. Figure 1.1 is a golf ball designed in
Solidworks.

Fig 1.2: CAD model of a ball

2) Conversion to STL Format

The various CAD packages use a number of different algorithms to represent solid objects.
To establish consistency, the STL (stereolithography, the first RP technique) format has been
adopted as the standard of the rapid prototyping industry. The second step, therefore, is to convert
the CAD file into STL format. This format represents a three-dimensional surface as an assembly of
planar triangles, "like the facets of a cut jewel." 6 The file contains the coordinates of the vertices
and the direction of the outward normal of each triangle. Because STL files use planar elements, they
cannot represent curved surfaces exactly. Increasing the number of triangles improves the
approximation, but at the cost of bigger file size. Large, complicated files require more time to pre-
process and build, so the designer must balance accuracy with manageability to produce a useful
STL file. Since the .stl format is universal, this process is identical for all of the RP build techniques.

This 3D CAD model is next converted into a Stereolithography or Standard Tessellation

Language (STL) file format. The STL file format only describes the surface geometry of a 3D CAD
model. It does not contain any information on the color, texture or material. STL file format can be
saved in either ASCII or binary versions, with the latter as the more compact version. The surface
geometry is described with triangular facets. Each triangle facets uses a set of Cartesian coordinates
to
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describe its three vertices and the surface normal vector using a right-hand rule for ordering. An
example of how an ASCII STL file format is show in Fig. 1.2.

Figure 1.3: ASCII STL file format

To convert a CAD model to STL in Solidworks, File >Save as>Change ‘Save as type’ to .STL Select
‘Options’ for more advance export options. Figure 1.4 shows a print screen of the STL export option.
As shown in Fig. 1.4, one can select to export the STL as Binary or ASCII file format in millimetre,
centimetre, meter, inches or feet depending on the unit used in the CAD model.

Figure 1.4: Solidworks STL export option

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3) Slice the STL File
In the third step, a pre-processing program prepares the STL file to be built. Several programs
are available, and most allow the user to adjust the size, location and orientation of the model. Build
orientation is important for several reasons. First, properties of rapid prototypes vary from one
coordinate direction to another. For example, prototypes are usually weaker and less accurate in the z
(vertical) direction than in the x-y plane. In addition, part orientation partially determines the amount
of time required to build the model. Placing the shortest dimension in the z direction reduces the
number of layers, thereby shortening build time. The pre-processing software slices the STL model
into a number of layers from 0.01 mm to 0.7 mm thick, depending on the build technique.

The program may also generate an auxiliary structure to support the model during the build. Supports
are useful for delicate features such as overhangs, internal cavities, and thin-walled sections. Each
PR machine manufacturer supplies their own proprietary pre-processing software.

The resolution options allow a user to control the tessellation of non-planar surfaces. There
are two preset resolutions of ‘Coarse’ and ‘Fine’. The ‘Custom’ setting allows one to adjust the
deviation and angle tolerances. Lower deviation tolerance sets tighter accuracy to the tessellation
whereas smaller angle deviation sets smaller detail tessellation. The caveat is that tighter tolerances
create more triangle facets to describe the 3D CAD model’s surface more finely which causes the file
size to be large.

Figure 1.4 shows a CAD model exported to a coarse resolution STL (114KB), fine resolution STL
(300 KB), and a very fine resolution STL file (1.51 MB). A more complicated design with
complicated features would also result in a large STL file size. Figure 1.5 shows an exaggerated view
of how the export STL tolerance option affects how the 3D CAD model’s surface is described.
Furthermore, depending on how fine the tolerances are set, computation power to export the CAD
model and process the file for fabrication could be an issue. Once the appropriate STL file has been
generated, this is then loaded into the individual RP company’s proprietary software to be processed
into 2D slices for fabrication.

Figure 1.5: CAD model to a coarse STL, fine STL, and a very fine STL file.

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 Figure 1.6: Exaggerated view of different STL tolerances

4) Layer by Layer Construction

The fourth step is the actual construction of the part. Using one of several techniques
(described in the next section) RP machines build one layer at a time from polymers, paper, or
powdered metal. Most machines are fairly autonomous, needing little human intervention.

The different types of additive RP technologies can be categorized into three types: liquid based
(SLA and Inkjet based Printing), solid based (FDM), and powder based (SLS). These are just a few
examples of the different RP technologies in existence. Regardless of the different types of RP
technologies, all of them require the 3D CAD model’s STL file for fabrication. These STL files are
then used to generate to 2D slice layers for fabrication.

5) Clean and Finish

The final step is post-processing. This involves removing the prototype from the machine and
detaching any supports. Some photosensitive materials need to be fully cured before use. Prototypes
may also require minor cleaning and surface treatment. Sanding, sealing, and/or painting the model
will improve its appearance and durability.

Advantages and disadvantages of rapid prototyping

Subtractive type RP is typically limited to simple geometries due to the tooling process where
material is removed. This type of RP also usually takes a longer time but the main advantage is that
the end product is fabricated in the desired material. Additive type RP, on the other hand, can
fabricate most complex geometries in a shorter time and lower cost. However, additive type RP
typically includes extra post fabrication process of cleaning, post curing or finishing.

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Advantage of Rapid Prototyping

• Fast and inexpensive method of prototyping design ideas

• Multiple design iterations
• Physical validation of design
• Reduced product development time
• It encourages and requires active student participation the design process.
• Iteration and change are natural consequences of instructional systems development. Clients
tend to change their minds.
• Clients don't know their requirements until they see them implemented.
• An approved prototype is the equivalent of a paper specification & dash with one exception.
Errors can be detected earlier.
• Prototyping can increase creativity through quicker user feedback. (But see below.)
• Prototyping accelerates the development cycle.
Disadvantages of Rapid Prototyping

 The main disadvantage of prototyping can be summed up in one complaint that is easy to
imagine: it has a tendency to encourage informal design methods which may introduce more
problems than they eliminate.
 Resolution not as fine as traditional machining (millimeter to sub-millimeter resolution)
 Surface flatness is rough (dependant of material and type of RP)
 This failure can be avoided if the following issues are kept in mind: (Tripp and Bichelmeyer)
 Prototyping can lead to a design-by-repair philosophy, which is only an excuse for lack of
discipline.
 Prototyping does not eliminate the need for front-end analysis. It cannot help if the situation is
not amenable to instructional design.
 A prototype cannot substitute completely for a paper analysis.
 There may be many instructional design problems which are not addressed by prototyping.
 Prototyping may lead to premature commitment to a design if it is not remembered that a
design is only a hypothesis.
 When prototyping an instructional package, creeping featurism (the adding of bells and
whistles) may lead to designs that get out of control."

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OVERVIEW OF EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES OF PROTOTYPING AND TOOLING

Prototype
 A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to
be replicated or learned from.
Design and modeling

In many fields, there is great uncertainty as to whether a new design will actually do what is desired.
New designs often have unexpected problems. A prototype is often used as part of the product design
process to allow engineers and designers the ability to explore design alternatives, test theories and
confirm performance prior to starting production of a new product. Engineers use their experience to
tailor the prototype according to the specific unknowns still present in the intended design. For
example, some prototypes are used to confirm and verify consumer interest in a proposed design
whereas other prototypes will attempt to verify the performance or suitability of a specific design
approach.

In general, an iterative series of prototypes will be designed, constructed and tested as the final
design emerges and is prepared for production. With rare exceptions, multiple iterations of
prototypes are used to progressively refine the design. A common strategy is to design, test, evaluate
and then modify the design based on analysis of the prototype.

In many products it is common to assign the prototype iterations Greek letters. For example, a first
iteration prototype may be called an "Alpha" prototype. Often this iteration is not expected to
perform as intended and some amount of failures or issues are anticipated. Subsequent prototyping
iterations (Beta, Gamma, etc.) will be expected to resolve issues and perform closer to the final
production intent.

In many product development organizations, prototyping specialists are employed - individuals with
specialized skills and training in general fabrication techniques that can help bridge between
theoretical designs and the fabrication of prototypes.

Basic prototype categories

There is no general agreement on what constitutes a "prototype" and the word is often used
interchangeably with the word "model" which can cause confusion. In general, "prototypes" fall into
five basic categories:

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Proof-of-Principle Prototype (Model) (in electronics sometimes built on a breadboard). A Proof of
concept prototype is used to test some aspect of the intended design without attempting to exactly
simulate the visual appearance, choice of materials or intended manufacturing process. Such
prototypes can be used to "prove" out a potential design approach such as range of motion,
mechanics, sensors, architecture, etc. These types of models are often used to identify which design
options will not work, or where further development and testing is necessary.

Form Study Prototype (Model). This type of prototype will allow designers to explore the basic
size, look and feel of a product without simulating the actual function or exact visual appearance of
the product. They can help assess ergonomic factors and provide insight into visual aspects of the
product's final form. Form Study Prototypes are often hand-carved or machined models from easily
sculpted, inexpensive materials (e.g., urethane foam), without representing the intended color, finish,
or texture. Due to the materials used, these models are intended for internal decision making and are
generally not durable enough or suitable for use by representative users or consumers.

User Experience Prototype (Model). A User Experience Model invites active human interaction
and is primarily used to support user focused research. While intentionally not addressing possible
aesthetic treatments, this type of model does more accurately represent the overall size, proportions,
interfaces, and articulation of a promising concept. This type of model allows early assessment of
how a potential user interacts with various elements, motions, and actions of a concept which define
the initial use scenario and overall user experience. As these models are fully intended to be used and
handled, more robust construction is key. Materials typically include plywood, REN shape, RP
processes and CNC machined components. Construction of user experience models is typically
driven by preliminary CAID/CAD which may be constructed from scratch or with methods such as
industrial CT scanning.

Visual Prototype (Model) will capture the intended design aesthetic and simulate the appearance,
color and surface textures of the intended product but will not actually embody the function(s) of the
final product. These models will be suitable for use in market research, executive reviews and
approval, packaging mock-ups, and photo shoots for sales literature.

Functional Prototype (Model) (also called a working prototype) will, to the greatest extent
practical, attempt to simulate the final design, aesthetics, materials and functionality of the intended
design. The functional prototype may be reduced in size (scaled down) in order to reduce costs. The
construction of a fully working full-scale prototype and the ultimate test of concept, is the engineers'
final check for

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design flaws and allows last-minute improvements to be made before larger production runs are
ordered.

Differences between a prototype and a production design

In general, prototypes will differ from the final production variant in three fundamental ways:

Materials. Production materials may require manufacturing processes involving higher capital costs
than what is practical for prototyping. Instead, engineers or prototyping specialists will attempt to
substitute materials with properties that simulate the intended final material.

Processes. Often expensive and time-consuming unique tooling is required to fabricate a custom
design. Prototypes will often compromise by using more flexible processes.

Lower fidelity. Final production designs often require extensive effort to capture high volume
manufacturing detail. Such detail is generally unwarranted for prototypes as some refinement to the
design is to be expected. Often prototypes are built using very limited engineering detail as compared
to final production intent.

Characteristics and limitations of prototypes

Engineers and prototyping specialists seek to understand the limitations of prototypes to exactly
simulate the characteristics of their intended design. A degree of skill and experience is necessary to
effectively use prototyping as a design verification tool.

It is important to realize that by their very definition, prototypes will represent some compromise
from the final production design. Due to differences in materials, processes and design fidelity, it is
possible that a prototype may fail to perform acceptably whereas the production design may have
been sound. A counter-intuitive idea is that prototypes may actually perform acceptably whereas the
production design may be flawed since prototyping materials and processes may occasionally
outperform their production counterparts.

In general, it can be expected that individual prototype costs will be substantially greater than the
final production costs due to inefficiencies in materials and processes. Prototypes are also used to
revise the design for the purposes of reducing costs through optimization and refinement.

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It is possible to use prototype testing to reduce the risk that a design may not perform acceptably,
however prototypes generally cannot eliminate all risk. There are pragmatic and practical limitations
to the ability of a prototype to match the intended final performance of the product and some
allowances and engineering judgment are often required before moving forward with a production
design.

Building the full design is often expensive and can be time-consuming, especially when repeated
several times—building the full design, figuring out what the problems are and how to solve them,
then building another full design. As an alternative, "rapid-prototyping" or "rapid application
development" techniques are used for the initial prototypes, which implement part, but not all, of the
complete design. This allows designers and manufacturers to rapidly and inexpensively test the parts
of the design that are most likely to have problems, solve those problems, and then build the full
design.

Modern trends

With the recent advances in computer modeling it is becoming practical to eliminate the creation of a
physical prototype, instead modeling all aspects of the final product as a computer model. An
example of such a development can be seen in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, in which the first full
sized physical realization is made on the series production line.

Mechanical and electrical engineering

The most common use of the word prototype is a functional, although experimental, version of a non-military
machine (e.g., automobiles, domestic appliances, consumer electronics) whose designers would like to have
built by mass production means, as opposed to a mockup, which is an inert representation of a machine's
appearance, often made of some non-durable substance. Figure 1.6 shows the A prototype of the Polish
economy hatchback car Beskid 106 designed in the 1980s.

Fig. 1.7: A prototype of the Polish economy hatchback car Beskids 106 designed in the 1980s.

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An electronics designer often builds the first prototype from breadboard or strip board or per board,
typically using "DIP" packages. However, more and more often the first functional prototype is built
on a "prototype PCB" almost identical to the production PCB, as PCB manufacturing prices fall and
as many components are not available in DIP packages, but only available in SMT packages
optimized for placing on a PCB. Builders of military machines and aviation prefer the terms
"experimental" and "service test".

NEED FOR SPEED DESIGN TO MARKET OPERATIONS

Speed is crucial in industrial management. Manufacturers continually explore ways of shortening the
time between the definition of a product and its availability in the market (time-to-market) to gain
competitive advantage. Industrial managers are also pressured to maintain a steady flow of new
products into the market as the product offerings of competitors continue to change. Speed-to-market
is the goal of time-sensitive competitors. There is increased emphasis on speed in all aspects of
manufacturing, particularly in engineering, production, sales response, and customer service, in an
effort to make short product life cycles even shorter. Speed-to-market requires the proper
technology, as well as policies and procedures relating all development operations.

Faster, faster, faster! We're in a world obsessed with speed. "Time" has become our most valued
resource--from the food we eat, to computers, airplanes, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and even
written information. No longer is ordinary mail sufficient, we now have electronic mail. Why waste
time typing?

Manufacturers, too, have come to grips with the competitive nature of speed. Executives have long
known that "time is money," but only recently has that concept been widely accepted as a
competitive advantage across all markets and product lines. Markets based on style, fashion, or fads
have always felt this pressure, but today producers of semiconductors, industrial vehicles and
equipment, and chemicals, to name a few, a feel the same effects.

Change and Time to Market

The emphasis in manufacturing companies during the 1990s will be "Time-to-market." The term is
generally defined as the elapsed time between product definition and product availability. Time-to-
market is doubly important when one considers another current trend: the pervasive nature of change.
New products, improved products, new and improved products, extensions and expansions of
product lines, revisions and enhancements of products, all are evidence of the requirement to keep a
steady stream of new products going into the market. Product designers are having a field day.

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The combination of continuous change and pressure to minimize time-to-market puts new challenges
before today's managers. Led by the success of Japanese competitors, the electronics/computer
industry, and select niches in the aerospace and automotive industries, U.S. firms are feeling the need
to shorten product life cycles, minimize lead times, and adopt a new mentality toward the process of
launching new products.

These time-sensitive competitors don't adhere to the old rules. Traditional management practice was
based on having plenty of time: weigh the options, generate and evaluate several alternatives, play
out the scenarios, product staff reports justifying decisions and directions. Heroes were the ones who
operated within budget and on low-risk projects. The results of such a cautious and conservative
approach were predictable: sluggish organizations, disgruntled employees, customer dissatisfaction,
and eventual erosion of market share.

Accelerators
The new competitors are time-to-market "accelerators." Their focus is on speed: in engineering,
production, sales response, and customer service. They talk in terms of speed-to-market. Their
product life cycles frequently look more like spikes than smooth flowing curves. To them, the
marketplace is global and so is the competition. Niche marketing is crucial to understand customer
requirements and concentrate resources on pertinent products

Who are these accelerators? The bad news is that there a few corporations whose total enterprise can
be categorized as accelerating.

Ford Motor Company created "Team Taurus" to develop the Taurus and Sable lines of automobiles.
Team members included designers, engineers, and production specialists. Even customers were
asked what they wanted in the car. The team addressed profitability and competitiveness in both the
design stage and production cycle. In their effort to rationalize the car's mechanical components and
the way in which it would be built, they replaced sequential engineering activities with simultaneous
input from the diverse members of the group. Before the first clay model was built, they knew how
the car would be assembled. Under the previous system, manufacturing managers never saw the cars
they would build until eight or nine months before production started. The success of Team Taurus is
cited as a significant factor in the

The Ballistic Systems Division of Boeing Aerospace Corporation has implemented a program called
"Developmental Operations." The goal is to simplify developmental practices. A multi-functional
team is formed to develop a specific product and, in so doing, utilize process simplification
techniques to speed the development effort, among other noteworthy goals. Design analysis was
reduced from two
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weeks to 38 minutes (their goal is four minutes), the average number of engineering changes per
drawing dropped from a high of 15 to 20 to a low of one. To accelerate production, critical
inspection features were identified directly on the drawing.

The development effort is paid off during the Stage II phase of the traditional life cycle. In the 1990s,
however, the product life cycle is in transition. The emphasis is on innovation -- avoiding becoming
a commodity. The cycle is shorter, so short that the accelerators refer to product life cycle "spikes."
Much of the shortness is in reaction to, or in anticipation of, stiffer competition. The reduced life
cycle means less time to pay back the development effort. To maintain profit margins the
accelerators are extending the product life cycle forward

Becoming an Accelerator

Becomes readily apparent, then, that speed-to-market creates opportunities in market share, market
leadership, and profits. So how can one become an accelerator? What propels products to market?
With so many functions and activities involved in the time-to-market process, a clear target and a
concentrated action plan are needed. A useful starting point might be to eliminate some strategies
that appear to be practical, but in actuality can be counterproductive. For example, we can't just "step
on the gas," an approach that normally appeals to descendants of Attila the Hun. Not only must
proper tools be in place, but the policies and procedures which tie various development functions
together need to be established. No amount of intimidation can overcome these requirements.

Even when a change in operations is recognized as a necessary element in reducing time-to-market,

managers have to appreciate the difference between incremental versus total change. Incremental
changes are indeed useful in the early activities of tool building. Organizations should be given the
proper resources to optimize departmental productivity, e.g., design engineers should be using
computer-aided-design (CAD) systems, which have already proven their worth in engineering
productivity. But on an interdepartmental basis, incremental change is inefficient to affect the
development cycle. This safe, easily managed, easily reversed, slow approach makes people feel like
something is being accomplished. However, only the symptoms are being treated. Speed-to-market
requires a major or total change in traditional operations.

To the surprise of very few people, the time-to-market bottleneck in manufacturing firms is in the
combined design engineering manufacturing activity. Here we should look to apply our two
premises. Within that sphere of activity, the design engineering functions wields more influence than
might be evidence at first glance. Exhibit 3 shows the inverse effect of design engineering on time-
to-market.

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The influence of the design function does not arise from the intrinsic nature of the creative process.
As mentioned earlier, productivity aids such as CAD have long ago solved that problem

The organizational environment needed to minimize downstream product changes has been
explained to us numerous times in many sources. Peters and Waterman, in their classic, In Search of
Excellence, describe the innovation that comes from "skunk-works" development groups. Keep these
developers away from the administrative nightmare of large, bureaucratic organizations and let
genius prevail. Waterman follows up with "Adhocracy" organizations which react dynamically to
changing conditions. "Entrepreneurship" has not been lost as a philosophy underlying these various
structures, although to date the reviews of this technique are mixed.

There is nothing wrong with the judicious application of novel organizational structures to improve
creativity and productivity. Most managers continually seek to simplify business units and eliminate
organizational layers and middlemen where practical. Basically, the new innovation-oriented
organizations are designed to enhance flexibility: static flexibility to adjust to changing market
conditions, and dynamic flexibility for steadily increasing productivity through improved production
processes and innovation.

The accelerators-to-market groups have such an organizational environment in place that they are
able to consistently produce manufactural products. Key to their success is the ability to remove the
artificial barrier between the design engineers and manufacturing. Known primarily as concurrent
engineering, but also as simultaneous engineering and reducibility engineering, the goal of tightening
this innovative team is to produce a manufactural (and maintainable) product.

Concurrent engineering is not new. Toyota and Honda have been using it in Japan for years. The
well- known Japanese team approach and consensus orientation is the basis for concurrent
engineering. On the home front, GM and Ford have been at concurrent engineering for about four
years now. Even the U.S. Air Force has jumped on the concept. At the Wright Research and
Development Centre they established a concurrent Engineering Office with the stated goal of
increasing the productivity of the aerospace-related work force. Furthermore, concurrent engineering
will be a Department of Defence mandate in the acquisition of future weapons systems.

The lesson learned thus far in concurrent engineering is that the more intelligence put into the design
process, the less intelligence needed on the shop floor. In most U.S. manufacturing firms, today's
process and quality are severely limited by existing product design.
Designing a product for manufacturability doesn't necessarily reduce the number of engineering
changes that occur throughout the product's life cycle. Most likely there will be fewer changes, but

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more important, they will be earlier in the development cycle. Exhibit 6 contrasts the timing of design
changes in concurrent engineering versus traditional product development

Accelerating-to-market

Means that engineering and manufacturing, as disciplines, share in the design process. It is
more than an organizational interface: a new organizational entity is created so that a multi-
disciplinary team produces the design. Products cannot be "forced" through the factory. Material
travels no faster than the information needed to produce the product. Therefore, time-to-market, with
its inherent product and process design, is a function of the speed of information. All members have
input to the concurrent design criteria.

Integrating these systems is essential to ensure that all team members know what is happening in the
product development cycle. Networks that tie various computer systems together enhance the speed
and accuracy of communications within the group. Moreover, ancillary and immediate benefits can
occur as redundant information is eliminated and more pertinent data relationships are established.
"Open systems," a term designating a seamless flow of information throughout a computer network,
ensures that all software packages are available for team audit.

If anything is needed in an environment that is rife with change and speed, it's flexibility. A Just-in-
time manufacturing philosophy means more than the name implies--it means the elimination of
waste. Waste adds time, as well as cost and complexity. Flexibility allows for reduced lot sizes,
quick changeover equipment, minimal inventories, and simplicity. Process planners and
manufacturing engineers have a key goal to gain valuable flexibility while maintaining efficiency.

The ever-increasing time pressure on concurrent engineering teams motivates them to use high
technology capabilities whenever possible. Engineering drawings are initiated in computer-aided-
design (CAD) systems and quickly passed to more useful imaging systems. Imaging technology is a
more efficient method of distributing the engineering design or drawing and allows reviewers to red-
line, or mark and comment on the drawings without disturbing the original design. Alternative
sketches can easily be entered by any team reviewer to enhance manufacturability. Artificial
intelligence (AI) systems are also helping in the evaluation of manufacturable designs, although
usually in a narrow and well-defined segment of the process

Top Management

As in most successful major business changes, top management must be supportive (at the least) and,
preferably, actively involved. The top-line executive must commit to a speed-to-market operating

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philosophy. What is commitment? Relating it to the proverbial American breakfast of bacon and
eggs, the chicken is involved, but the pig is totally committed. Top management provides a
vision of the future and a time-to-market goal that product developers continually strive to meet
and exceed. Inter- departmental processes must be put in place to fit the new concurrent
engineering direction. Top management also provides the tools, in this case the computer
systems and other high technology capabilities necessary for rapid communication Lastly, top
management never accepts the status quo. Change, innovation, and improvement are continual.
The "accelerators" of tomorrow will, by definition, emerge from nowhere. The competitors and
the market will be taken by surprise; market shares and profitability will be affected. Time-to-
market is tomorrow's competitive issue.