Execution of rapid prototyping technology - an Indian manufacturing industry's perspective

Since independence, India has endeavoured to bring economic and social change through science and technology. While India’s economic growth in the recent years has been impressive, many challenges remain to be met to create a strong and vibrant innovation eco-system. This requires a culture and value system which supports both basic and applied research and technology development. One of those technologies, rapid prototyping (RP) technology, is the automatic construction of physical objects using additive manufacturing technology. It can be defined as an automated and patternless process which allows solid physical parts to be made directly from computer data in a short time. RP acts as the ‘manufacturing middle’ to link up the computer-aided design (CAD) process and manufacturing processes. It includes the making of prototypes for design verification and even the making of tooling for production. With the trend towards concurrent engineering and the widespread use of CAD, RP has quickly become a booming business in the past few years. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the execution of RP technology in India and the critical decision factors in executing RP for the Indian manufacturing industry.