Rapid Prototyping for Competitive Advantage

Chapter 2 - Purpose and Summary

• The purpose of this chapter is to provide brief details of application examples and to identify the main points that each case illustrates.
• Overviews of 31 application examples from different sectors are provided. The sectors addressed include automotive, aerospace, electrical and electronic, consumer goods, and medical technologies.
• Benefits are described. These often involve time and cost reductions on the production of prototypes.
• Additional benefits which normally fall under the heading of enabling innovation are also evident, for example the development of new testing procedures.
• A number of the application examples illustrate the implementation of rapid prototyping technologies within the context of wider organisational changes, for example the establishment of concurrent engineering design practices. Dealing with these organisational changes is a key issue.