Rapid Product Development and Application in Ceramics Production

Rapid Prototyping Technology

Prototyping is a fundamental design initiation, which involves the construction of working models of conceived products for mass production. A prototype is the first or original example of a product that has been or will be copied or developed; it is a model or preliminary version (Chua, Leong, and Lim 2010). According to Soegaard (2010), a prototype is often used as part of product design process to allow engineers and designer the ability to explore design alternatives, test theories and confirm performances before starting production of a new product. For example, some prototypes are used to confirm and verify consumer interest in a proposed design whereas other prototypes will attempt to verify the performance or suitability of a specific design. Prototypes are also used to revise the design to reduce cost through optimisations and refinement. There are two main modes of prototyping: Visual/Virtual Prototyping and Physical Prototyping. Visual Prototyping is the process of simulating the appearance; colour, size or shape of the intended design visually while physical prototyping is the building of a real model.