56 CommerCial ConstruCtion & renovation — March : april 2014

Who would’ve thought these words would be used to

describe manufacturing?

In the old days, manufacturing took time. “Time to market”

was clearly a lengthy cycle in any industry because getting a

product from concept stage to being available for purchase took

time. Product development often had a diffcult time making it

out of the engineering department, based on such variables as

initial approval, testing phases, budgeting, staffng allocations,

manufacturing, shipping, and the list goes on.

But today, that’s all different. Thanks to an innova-

tive process known as “3D rapid prototyping,” time to

market can be greatly reduced. And the strange thing is:

Faster. Better. Cheaper. This is not a promo

for a “Six Million Dollar Man” episode from

the 1970s. It’s the new mantra of today’s

manufacturing companies, which are using innova-

tive methods to get their products to market faster,

better and cheaper than ever before.

The

generationBy Andy Coutu How rapid prototyping is changing the manufacturing game

CCR-Mar/April.14_32-71.indd 56 4/2/14 9:47 AM

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58 CommerCial ConstruCtion & renovation — March : april 2014

THe 3d generaTion

The technology is not new. It has been

around for nearly three decades.

Known as “additive manufacturing,” 3D

printing is used to fabricate models, prototypes

and parts out of resin material. Using a CAD draw-

ing, a part can be printed in a matter of hours.

Today’s high-end 3D rapid-prototype

printers have improved exponentially over the

last decade. There are machines with better

print quality and resolution, signifcantly higher

run speeds, more material choices, properties

and shades of color, and less of a footprint.

It’s possible to buy a 3D printer to sit on your

desk – similar in size to a laser printer – for

printing convenience at your fngertips.

So, not only are 3D printers more capable,

but the range and mechanical properties of 3D

print materials are expanding. The result of all

this is that advanced 3D printers are becoming a

must-have fxture within every large product-development company, from

the automotive sector to electronic goods and household appliances.

Manufacturers are able to cut out much of their secondary tool-

ing processes, such as injection molding, resin tooling, mold making

and soft tooling. And all of this will go into helping them shorten their

time to market and reduce costs.

There’s not a mechanical engineer on the face of the planet

who wouldn’t want to hold their product idea in their hands. To

physically see it; to feel its material properties; and to test how it

works. A design engineer could have a new product idea on Tuesday,

design a CAD drawing of it on Wednesday morning, and print a 3D

part to have in-hand for the sales department’s customer meeting on

Wednesday afternoon. Rapid prototyping virtually eliminates the need

for preproduction tooling and speculative – costly – manufacturing.

Engineers today are using 3D rapid prototyping much the same

way the business world embraced “spell check” with word-process-

ing documents. It’s a step in the process that saves costly mistakes

by enabling form, ft and function testing prior to manufacturing.

A world of possibilitiesThere is no end to the innovation that’s taking place using 3D rapid

prototyping, on a small and grand scale. According to a story in The

Wall Street Journal, Boeing someday plans

to make an airplane wing without cutting or

bending any metal – using a giant 3D printer.

General Electric is getting in on the act, too,

for new technology in health care. From

musical instruments to dental orthodontics

and automotive parts – 3D printing is turning

ideas into reality.

It’s a fact that the United States is com-

peting with other countries when it comes to

manufacturing at reduced costs. 3D printing

is but one tool to explore innovation and cost

reduction, to determine if a product can be

built stronger with less material, for example,

or as a tool to check if a new design will

function properly.

Today’s businesses compete with ideas

in a global marketplace. In order to compete

in this modern, “instant” world, ideas have to

be very fast. What’s your next-generation product? You’d better come

up with it quickly and it must be better than your competition’s.

One of our customers is a major luggage manufacturer. We

built a prototype of handles and a new wheel design on a piece of

luggage so it could be tested via focus group for instant feedback

critical to the manufacturing process. Another customer, a world-re-

nowned gaming-technology company, came up with a cover design

that we prototyped for a casino machine that would use less plastic,

saving millions of dollars in the process. For a major golf ball man-

ufacturer we prototyped four dozen balls, each with different dimple

arrays, in a matter of two days. These balls were blown through a

wind tunnel to see how they would react for speed and accuracy –

something that would never have been possible before with traditional

manufacturing processes.

Three-dimensional rapid prototyping is revolutionizing the

manufacturing foor. The future is here, and its “one-off,” meaning

it’s possible to produce just one part or model cost effectively, versus

having to produce thousands. When faced with the pace of rapid

change, 3D printing is allowing more businesses to compete and

take advantage of developing opportunities in their own backyards

and around the world. It puts imagination and innovation back into

the hands of more companies. <CCR

Andy Coutu is president of R&D Technologies Inc. in North Kingstown, RI. He can be reached at acoutu@rnd-tech.com. To learn more about 3D

printing, visit www.rnd-tech.com.

Engineers today are using 3D rapid

prototyping much the same way the business world embraced “spell

check” with word-processing

documents.

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