Rapid Prototyping for Competitive Advantage

Chapter 4 - Purpose and Summary

• The aim of this chapter is to provide readers with insights into the costs of rapid prototyping by outlining the numerous possible capital and revenue costs.
• Several costs are described that are normally additional to the basic price of the rapid prototyping machine. Actual additional costs, however, will depend upon a particular process and vendor.
• Included in the costs described are those associated with bringing about organisational changes. These are sometimes overlooked in business case documentation, and are often not fully understood or appreciated by technically minded people or those who look at rapid prototyping as an isolated technology solving a particular problem.