engleski

Importance of Rapid Prototyping in Polymer Product Development

In case of injection moulded parts, it must be noted that 75 % of faults in their lifetime are initiated in the process of developing and designing the parts. Moreover, in the conventional product development process, approximately 80 % of faults generated during early phases of product design are recognized during production or quality control. In the later development process phases it is very difficult and costly to correct those faults. The range of possible savings of the product development and production is few times larger in the initial phases of product development than later, during product design and production. This means, that during product development process, it is necessary to make correct decision as soon as possible. One of possible, effective and already proven tools is application of Rapid Prototyping (RP) processes, which enable obtaining physical models in early stage of product development. Those models can be used in order to prevent faults in product design and function, as well as for good communication between experts involved in product development and production. The paper will present few examples of successful application of RP processes, and actual benefits of application of prototypes in polymer products development process.

Rapid Prototyping; development; injection moulded part

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