Rapid Prototyping
for Competitive Advantage: Technologies,
Applications
and Implementation for Market Success
Paul T. Kidd
1997, ISBN 1-901864-00-6
Product Description
Product Information
A Unique Guide for Directors and Executives
....
"This is
a very good comprehensive guide on Rapid Prototyping/Manufacturing
which deals with the applications and strategic issues. Very
good reading for anyone thinking about incorporating these technologies
into their own business using service providers, or purchasing
their own Rapid Prototyping equipment"
Graham Tromans
Principal Engineer
Rover Group Rapid Prototyping
"This report
introduces in a very readable style the technology and application
of Rapid Prototyping. It should serve as a very useful guide."
Ken Turnbull
Director of Product Engineering
Kenwood Limited
Are
you looking to understand what Rapid Prototyping can achieve
for your company?
Do
you want guidance on how to implement the technologies for maximum
benefit?
Technological developments, more fragmented
niche markets and increasingly demanding customer expectations
are just some of the factors relentlessly driving industries.
Operating in highly unstable and turbulent conditions will become
the norm over the next decade.
To thrive in this environment, firms must
take a radically different approach towards new process technologies.
Rapid Prototyping for
Competitive Advantage, a unique
report from Cheshire Henbury, is an essential strategic tool
for dealing with the business and management issues surrounding
rapid prototyping technologies. It cuts through the technical
details and jargon to focus on the key issues that your company
needs to address to achieve the full range of business benefits
offered by the technologies. The report addresses application
to new product development, tooling and manufacturing and provides
detailed information and advice on:
- Strategy - the use of rapid prototyping to support the
achievement of existing strategic objectives like reducing time
to market for new products as well as enabling new strategic
objectives like cost effective customisation.
- Innovation - applying the technologies in ways that will
enable both product and process innovations, thus assisting your
firm in its quest to gain a significant edge over its competitors.
- Organisation and people - addressing organisational, cultural and skill
changes that are needed to effectively use the technologies and
to develop a more flexible and responsive organisation better
suited to today's competitive environment.
- Implementation - the "how-to" issues, including assessment,
business case development, supply chain issues and a suggested
implementation process to adopt.
Rapid Prototyping for
Competitive Advantage will enable
you to successfully implement rapid prototyping technologies,
to develop effective organisational structures and to better
manage technical and organisational change.
Innovative features
of the report:
- Getting the key information
quickly: A list of Key Action Points
that provide you with a 10 point description of the essence of
the report, an Executive summary to give you an overview of the
essential issues, a Reading Guide to help you make a quick selection
of the topics of most interest to you, and individual chapter
summaries and annotated comments in margins to provide you with
rapid access to key information.
- Developing a High Level
View: A 17 page introductory chapter
providing you with a crisp and precise "helicopter view"
of what is important and how to proceed.
- Understanding key points
of applications: 31 real examples
drawn from several industries, each classified according to important
themes and each analysed to illustrate the key points.
- Tailored to non-specialists: Jargon free non-technical overviews and descriptions
of the technologies.
- Focused on issues as
well as "how-to" information:
Descriptions of the major issues complemented by detailed advice
on how to proceed in a structured way with business case analysis,
technology selection and implementation.
This report will help
you to:
- Understand application
potential - by providing overviews
and analysis of application examples drawn from leading sectors
such as automotive.
- Investigate the strategic
dimension - by providing detailed
information about the different business objectives that can
be impacted by the technologies.
- Develop awareness of
the costs involved - by identifying
and describing the full range of additional sources of costs.
- Adopt an appropriate
assessment and implementation process
- by describing an assessment and implementation method.
- Develop a business
case - by providing advice on strategic
assessment, quantifying intangible benefits and describing the
issues to address in preparing a business case.
- Select rapid prototyping
technologies - by providing a checklist
of factors which should be addressed when comparing the different
available technologies.
For companies already
using rapid prototyping technologies:
This report will support your continuous
improvement efforts, by allowing you to:
- reassess your current applications and
to identify additional benefits
- address your use of rapid prototyping
bureaux and provide guidance on strategic and supply chain issues
that need to be addressed
- improve organisational arrangements to
enable more effective use to be made of rapid prototyping technologies
- establish processes that will enable the
rapid technological developments taking place in this area to
be continuously monitored, assessed and applied more easily.
For the smaller firm:
This report provides you with:
- quality information about strategic, organisational
and implementation issues that you would normally pay a high
quality consultant to tell you
- valuable and detailed "how-to"
assessment and implementation guidance that will save you many
thousands of pounds on consulting fees
- details of practical issues that you will
need to be aware of in order to deal effectively with vendor
and rapid prototyping bureau sales representatives.
Who should read this
report?
- CEOs, MDs, Manufacturing Directors, Marketing
Directors and senior executives and managers responsible for
strategy and organisational design
- product managers, designers and marketing
managers responsible for the infrastructure to support new product
development projects and product customisation
- senior executives responsible for innovation
and benchmarking
- management consultants and industry analysts.
About the author
Paul T. Kidd is a freelance researcher,
writer and consultant who has spent fifteen years working at
the leading edge of efforts to define, develop and implement
new manufacturing and business methods. He is an internationally
recognised expert in the areas of agile manufacturing and the
strategic management and implementation of new technologies.
He has undertaken work for both large and
small companies, and has acted as an advisor to the European
Commission and the UK's Department of Trade and Industry.
He has lectured throughout the world and
written extensively on topics of strategic importance to industry.
He wrote a unique and best selling management report entitled
"Revolutionising New Product Development", published
in 1997 by Financial Times Automotive Publishing, which deals
with the globalisation of product design capabilities in the
automotive industry. He has also written articles for leading
publication such as the Financial Times Newspaper, The Engineer
and Automotive International.
"An informative
report which should prove very useful to those companies seriously
looking at time compression technologies."
David Arthur
Materials Information Service
Institute of Materials
"An invaluable
report for anyone interested in rapid prototyping, whether they
wish to understand what RP could do for their business, or whether
they are considering the purchase of an RP system or using a
bureau."
Richard Rogers
Specialist Engineer - Rapid Prototyping
Rolls-Royce plc
Details
1997, x + 131 pages, softbound
Published by Cheshire Henbury
ISBN 1-901864-00-6
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