The Benefits Rapid Prototyping Implementation For A Company

Companies need to adapt and develop their product as an outcome of an industrial competition. They compete with each other by quality and variety of merchandise. Product design would not be adjusted many times if they did not have proper planning and technology. Currently, many engineers and architects tend to use computers to design their products because it helps them to generate drawing precisely; furthermore, this drawing can be viewed in 3-dimension which helps developers explain the detail to other people, who are not engineering experts, easily. On the one hand, the design in computers is not a physical model; consequently, it could not be analysed for physical properties.

On the other hand, there is new technology which is Rapid Prototyping. It creates the physical model in several hours before the developers launch their products. Rapid Prototyping has six different types of machine which are Stereo-lithography, Solid Ground Curing, Laminated Object Manufacturing, Selective Laser Sintering, Direct Shell Production Casting, and Fused Deposition Modeling (Kamrani and Naur, 2010). This assignment introduces Rapid Prototyping, give an example of the most popular type of Rapid Prototyping machine, which is Stereo-Lithography, or the other name is Laser-Lithography, and describes some constraints for the future development of Rapid Prototyping (Kamrani and Naur, 2010). Rapid Prototyping is the recent technology which helps developers to produce a prototype which can be viewed in the real world before launching a product in a short period of time (Gibson, Rosen & Stucker, 2010). This process uses the computer file which is called Computer-Aided Drafting (Kamrani and Naur, 2010). It is ‘the use of computers, software and associated hardware to produce drawings that would normally be prepared manually’ (Krebs, 2007, p. 6). Due to the fact that the manual drawing was created by human, it was possible to not inform crucial detail of design; consequently, the manufacturers who use it for product planning are possible to be not received all information from the developers. This problem was ensured to be solved by using CAD since drawing need to all crucial information to produce a drawing. CAD also could be converted to BFF file which is only one type of file for generating Rapid Prototype; consequently, Rapid Prototyping generates 3-dimension physical model by making 2D layer many times after sending to Rapid Prototyping machine (Kamrani and Naur, 2010).

According to Kamrani and Naur (2010), the positive aspect is that physical prototype could be produced for evaluating for its physical properties in order to decide whether products design should be modified; before launching their products. In other words, this prototype helps developers to assess the quality and shape of product design; therefore, products were manufactured after this process. Market expectations could be reached by the variety and high-performance product. It also helps engineers to communicate with each other easily (Kamrani and Naur, 2010). Another positive effect is that the prototype could be generated at home via the internet (Kamrani and Naur, 2006). Rapid prototyping does not only create the prototype, it also can make real products if manufacturer does not want to create a large number of products due to the fact that time per unit of it is not high, but it is not low enough for mass production (Lü, Fuh, and Wong, 2001).

In addition, it does not only support engineers, but it also helps companies to save the cost of the product; so that profit would increase, and start-up companies do not need to have high capital (Gibson, Rosen & Stucker, 2010). According to Gibson, Rosen and Stucker (2010), this effect happens due to the fact that this process does not require many people and types of material. Furthermore, this type of machine does not require other machines in order to join part of the product; therefore, it uses less equipment than other types; thus, it helps to decrease an area of companies by decreasing factory and warehouse size. Combination of these factors leads to capital directly (Gibson, Rosen & Stucker, 2010). It also has an advantage of marketing. The example is that advertisers to promote products before they were produced (Kamrani and Naur, 2010).

Although this is the positive side for many companies, Gibson, Rosen and Stucker (2010) stated the drawback for many employers. Because of Rapid Prototyping does not require human resources, people who work in some areas will lose their jobs. On the other hand, companies are likely to hire other jobs instead of them (Gibson, Rosen & Stucker, 2010). A case in point is that Rapid Prototyping is the machine requiring maintenance. This limitation prompts the company to hire professional technicians. Currently, the most popular type of rapid prototyping is Stereo-Lithography (Kamrani and Naur, 2010). It is a process that uses UV lamps to make ultraviolet radiation which points at specific liquid polymer in a surface of resin bath for joining it and making it be a solid polymer (Gebhardt, 2003). This is how to make only one layer; the tool which helps to create the next layer is platform, which will move down for creating the next layer in the vat (Kalpakjian, Schmid and Sekar, 2014). According to Kamrani and Naur (2010), Stereo-lithography has a large number of advantages. First of all, it has high productivity which means that it can create a product in a short period of time. It is also reliable, does not require human resources during the process and can create many parts at the same time.

Moreover, its product is high quality due to the fact that it is precise and strong. Finally, the quantity of waste during the process is low so that it saves cost and does not waste valuable resources, which is vital due to not be able to recycle some materials. Consequently, companies get more profit. On the other hand, Kamrani and Naur (2010) pointed out some problems with this technology. First, products may crack, may be come out of shape because of moisture in the air and need to be cleaned after the end of the process. Another constraint to consider is that needs to create subsequent removal under it; thus, there are two drawbacks of this which is requiring to be removed after the end of the process, and it will be wasted. The last disadvantage is long building time owing to the fact that this processing time depends on the volume of design. In other words, time is directly proportional to the volume of the product. Although Rapid Prototyping is a high-performance technology, Gebhardt (2003) stated constraints of it which are material development. A product is difficult to be developed due to the limit of materials.

For example, Stereo-Lithography can not generate metals and ceramics; in other words, it is able to make only polymer prototype. It is likely to be a problem when prototype need to be tested for analyzing product properties such as its strength because they have different toughness and hardness (Kamrani and Naur, 2006). This condition is a problem for analyzing model before producing the new product if the material of prototype and real product is not the same owing to the fact that real properties of the product were not known (Gebhardt, 2003). The constraint is that rapid prototype can make only eight types of polymers which are ABS polymer, Acrylics, Cellulose, Nylon, Polycarbonate, Thermoplastic polyester, Polyethylene, Polypropylene and Polyvinylchloride (Kamrani and Naur, 2006).

However, this prototype can be a model for making other types of manufacturing. The prototype can be a pattern for making a mold in casting process (Gebhardt, 2003). It is “process basically involves pouring molten into mold, patterned after the part to be cast, allowing it to solidify, and removing the part from the mold” (Kalpakjian, Schmid and Sekar, 2014, p 237). However, the product after the end of the casting process noticeably shrinkage; therefore, its accuracy would not be high (Kalpakjian, Schmid and Sekar, 2014). Thus, it may not be perfect for developers, but a combination of this process is sufficient for rough consideration and its product is suitable for low accuracy product, which means that its model can be used by some area of manufacturer companies. Lü, Fuh, and Wong (2001) stated that the polymers, which use in this process, must be photosensitive monomer. It means that this polymer is sensitive to light. It may be hard to be maintained liquid state because many places have light from the sun.

Therefore, the liquid polymer should be kept in the dark place, which does not have UV light, so that it would not change to a solid state before starting the process. Another point to consider is the size of the product of rapid prototype. According to Gebhardt and Hötter (2016), a development is called Contour Crafting, which is a layered fabrication technology, can build a precise large product and does not have any waste after processing. The example is building. Another problem with Rapid Prototyping is that it is expensive for personal use. Gebhardt and Hötter (2016) also stated that its cost will be decreased because of new technology which is called Free Molding. It is a new technology that can use recycled plastic to build the prototype.

In conclusion, Rapid Prototyping is a recent technology which creates 2D layer many times until finishing a 3-dimension prototype. Its prototype could be evaluated for modifying the proper design of the future product. In addition, it can reduce the cost of the product if a small number of products was required to produce since it does not require human resource, many machines and many processes. This influence on competition of companies, so the price which customers pay for the commodities will significantly decrease. However, as this paper stated earlier, it still has some problems with the limits of material and size of the product. Currently, prototype needs to be made by another type of manufacturing process if it needs to be very sensitive or some material which Rapid Prototyping could not process. This problem may be solved in the future. As a result of the being created by a better Rapid Prototyping machine, the product will be smart. Moreover, a building is likely to be made by Rapid Prototyping machine when the size problem of the product is completely solved.