Zone: Processes

Rapid Tooling: Faster, Better, and Less Expensive

Don’t think of rapid tooling purely for prototyping or short runs. Additive tech is making it possible to produce steel tools that have decided benefits for injection molding and die casting.

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3D Printing Goes Open-Source
11/5/2009: A relatively recent development is quietly taking place, and it could have an interesting impact on the additive manufacturing (AM) industry.
Rapid Manufacturing @ Intel
11/4/2009: At Intel, product development and manufacturing share equal roles in advancing new products to market and, like the technology they’re producing, the factories must move at full-speed in order to stay ahead of the competition. “You need fast factories” in order to respond to the pace of change in the electronics world, admits Bob Baker, senior vice president of Technology and Manufacturing at Intel.
3D Printing Cuts Timberland's Development Time
10/29/2009: Getting fashion to market fast is essential—what’s hot can cool quickly—so the product development 33% time reduction that Timberland, the footwear and apparel producer, is realizing is of considerable competitive advantage. It’s being realized through the use of 3D printing technology from Z Corporation.
Building Character
9/2/2009 Time Compression: Garner Holt Productions has been producing animatronic figures for amusement parks, casinos and retail customers for more than 30 years.
Developing More Faster At Ford
9/1/2009 Time Compression: Here’s how one automaker is working hard—and fast—to bring new vehicles to market at an unprecedented pace in its more than 100-year history, and while dealing with the worst market in ages.

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Overview Of:
Processes

The Time Compression Processes Zone includes information on the major manufacturing processes employed in rapid product development. That obviously includes classical rapid prototyping and manufacturing processes such as 3-D printing, fused deposition modeling, selective laser sintering and stereo lithography to make parts and tooling. But it also includes the use of more traditional processes deployed in a rapid product development mode such as machining, casting, injection molding and others. The Processes Zone also includes much on reverse engineering processes, practices, software and equipment.