Re: [rp-ml] Slow growth

You might have to look much deeper. How important is a prototype in the
overall product development cycle in different countries. If you are
developing an entirely new product, a prototype is useful in explaining
a new product concept to business customers or to consumers. Many
countries, especially those coming out of decades of centrally-planned
economies, do not have truly consumer-oriented industries, so many
manufacturers there don't see the value of a prototype that you and I do.

If you are copying a design or making only slight improvements,
presumably you already know how to make the product and a prototype on
standard CNC or other standard production equipment, which are available
and in use by skilled operators worldwide. Also, a prototype not made in
the same material or in the same way that the final product will be made
seems useless to many, if not most people. If you have low labor costs,
an approximate prototype made by hand by a skilled craftsman is probably
good enough and, as Todd writes, an extra machine to do such prototypes
seems redundant.

Not that all of that can't change. This list gets inquiries from far and
wide and from places that put the lie to what I just wrote. As
industrialized countries continue to outsource their manufacturing to
places like China and Eastern Europe, there will be an increase in the
number of people able to realize a profit from original designs and
prototypes and that will also spread to their sub-contractors in other
countries.

I think I've captured most of the reasons that I've heard over the
years. Your expectations have perhaps been raised too high by movies and
technology hype-ists as to how fast all of this should happen.

Brock Hinzmann
Technology Navigator

Todd Pederzani wrote:
> ahmad ayyaz wrote:
>> Despite of all the fantastic features and benefits of Rapid
>> Prototyping , the idea could not get acceleration especialy at small
>> to medium enterprises level largely in developing countries? What you
>> people think the root cause of this? and what you will suggest to do
>> in this regard?
> I'm no expert, but two factors I'd consider are price and locality.
> None of the RP machines are particularly affordable (IMO), and service
> may not be available (or at high cost) in their area (or on a
> reasonable time frame.)
>
> Do you have quantitative measurements of the lack of adoption of RP in
> the countries? You may get a lot of answers, but I'm not sure how
> provable any of them may be (mine definitely included).
>
> --
> Todd Pederzani tpederzani@protocam.com
> ProtoCAM Information Technology
> 3848 Cherryville Road Phone: (610) 261-9010
> Northampton, PA 18067 Fax: (610) 261-9350
Received on Tue Apr 22 15:25:55 2008