A Systems Approach for the Effective Adoption of Rapid Prototyping for SMEs

Abstract

Rapidly changing global markets, unprecedented increase in product flexibility requirements and shorter product life cycles require more efficient technologies that can help reduce the time to market, which is considered to be a crucial factor to survive in today’s highly volatile market conditions. Rapid prototyping technology (RPT) has the potential to make remarkable reductions in the product development time. However, its fast development pace combined with increasing complexity and variety has made the task of RPT selection difficult as well as challenging. This paper presents a conceptual framework that will facilitate a systematic selection and adoption of the RPT from strategic to operational level. The proposed framework will help the companies, especially SMEs, to make more realistic and economical decisions on the selection and adoption of the right RP technology.