DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING WITH GENERATIVE PRODUCTION PROCESSES AND A NEUTRAL TEST ENVIRONMENT

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.