Design is a matter of balance weight vs strength cost vs quality speed vs accuracy and so on As development progresses prototyping is an essential part of the balancing process and prototyping itself presents the designer with choices.The Learn more

Software simulation and nanotechnology increasingly impact materials design and applications "Exploring the use of new materials in product development has been made easier by innovation in CAE tools," according to John Buchowski product Learn more

IEN What are the major concerns facing the materials sector and how can they be addressed?Reitz Within niche markets like the rapid prototyping materials arena a key challenge is balancing investment in the development of new materials technology Learn more

The light has been turned on at some firms A few manufacturers are finally seeing the opportunities that rapid prototyping (RP) technology can bring to custom-made production parts a goal often termed mass customization The most recent consumer Learn more

Since its commercial introduction in 1988 Rapid Prototyping (RP) has progressed from a novelty into a standard tool for new product development and is now poised to be an important technique for manufacturing the advanced products of the 21st Learn more

For a while the phrase "paradigm shift" seemed to appear way too often in literature and lexicon though the term has been heard less frequently since the dot.com meltdown But leave it to one of the backbones of American manufacturing the plastics Learn more