Rapid Prototyping for Consumer Products

Time to market is everything in the world of consumer products, whether it's something as seemingly basic as a tablet stand or a toothbrush, to more advanced products like electronics or musical instruments. Yes, time to market is everything. But at the same time, you can't sacrifice quality for speed.

That's where a technology known as additive manufacturing comes into play. Unlike traditional prototyping and manufacturing techniques, which create tooling or cut away metal to create a functional part, additive manufacturing is a process where the part is built from the ground up (think: grown), layer by layer, all based on data from a CAD file. Also commonly referred to as "3D printing" and "rapid prototyping," this technology holds many benefits over injection molding and milling, especially when it comes to prototyping or short manufacturing runs. For instance:

And perhaps most importantly, it's fast, which means quicker time to market. Parts can be completed in a matter of hours, not days, enabling you to make adjustments and design altercations sooner, thereby enabling you to green-light the product for a manufacturing run and get it onto store shelves sooner.

While 3D printing technologies has significantly evolved on a technological level over the past decade or so, one prohibiting factor from widespread adoption is that the machines remain rather expensive.

While quality machines can be purchased for around $20,000, that type of an upfront cost isn't exactly in the budget for a small to medium-sized company. That's where outsourcing these professional rapid prototyping services can pay big dividends. Today, all it takes is the click of a mouse to upload a CAD file over a secure network and the part can be made quickly, out of just about any type of material, and returned to you within days to test for form, fit, and function. Then you can either make the appropriate design changes and send the file out for another round of prototyping or green-light the product for production.

RP Marketplace is an online platform that allows businesses to source professional suppliers for rapid prototyping services.

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