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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