M. Geiger et W. Steger, DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING WITH GENERATIVE PRODUCTION PROCESSES AND A NEUTRAL TEST ENVIRONMENT, Computers in industry, 28(1), 1995, pp. 29-33
Different prototypes for design, ergonomics, assembly feasibility stud
ies, etc. are employed in the various phases of product development. S
tarting from a basic idea the target features of the product are defin
ed. From these product features the target features of the prototype m
ust be defined and suitable processes selected. More and more companie
s are using generative production processes (GPP) to make these protot
ypes and furthermore the number of GPP is increasing. This paper descr
ibes a systematic method similar to quality function deployment (QFD)
methods for carrying out these process steps. The feasibility (time an
d costs) of the rapid prototyping (RP) application depends to a large
extent on the correct decision but also on the nature and quality of t
he product data given to the contract suppliers. The designer must the
refore be in a position to evaluate the RP-specific quality of his des
ign and to provide the supplier with optimized data. Product developme
nt costs can be effectively reduced by employing a neutral test enviro
nment to verify the GPP suitability of the generated product data.