Experiences With The Design And Development Of A Novel Rapid Product Manufacturing Technique In The Batch Production Of Miniature Industrial Components.

This paper presents a novel rapid product manufacturing technique that will reduce cost and compress time for delivery of products produced in batches. The technique is composed of four stages – digital prototype, computer aided engineering analysis, physical prototype and rapid tooling manufacturing system. The technique effectively integrates the contemporary advanced manufacturing technologies such as solid modeling, CAE, reverse engineering, rapid prototyping and rapid tooling in improving the product design, analysis, prototype, mould and production process. Example of products developed through this technique is also reported in the paper. The initial findings prove the potential of the technique in reducing the time and cost of product development and manufacturing in the quantity or batch production environment. This technique is experimented through the senior design project and proved highly effective in presenting opportunities for students in applying various state of the art product manufacturing technologies that they have learnt in their engineering technology curriculum.