Manufacturing industries today always have new and up-to-date techniques in coming up with models and final designs of their products. One of these is achieved through a process known as rapid prototyping. This development is significant as it provides leverage for companies to further improve the final product.
Table of Contents
- What Is Rapid Prototyping?
- Benefits Of Rapid Prototyping In UX Design
1. Faster Manufacturing And Production
2. Wide Range Of Applications
3. Affordable
4. Creates Different Prototypes
5. Ability To Test Full Range Of Designs
6. Increased Customer Involvement
What Is Rapid Prototyping?
Rapid prototyping refers to a modern mode of product development that enables designers and engineers to produce at a faster rate by automatically reaching a production-ready design. This is most commonly practiced in 3D printing technologies.
Rapid prototyping is becoming popular because of the many benefits it brings. Not only could it be used in manufacturing industries but in UX design as well. Read more about this for a more thorough explanation of the tools needed.
Benefits Of Rapid Prototyping In UX Design
Being familiar now with rapid prototyping, here are its benefits in UX design:
1. Faster Manufacturing And Production
Speed is essential to stay competitive, especially if you’re a manufacturing business. Clients are demanding quality products at a faster turnover rate, so producing needs to be efficient as companies would also sell it on e-commerce platforms and even on their physical locations.
Rapid prototyping also sets a huge advantage. In the past, 3D printing can be completed within a week through computer numerical control (CNC) machining. With rapid prototyping, however, the turnaround rate is significantly reduced.
In rapid prototyping, the 3D computer-aided design (CAD) model presents the data to the printer immediately, without the need for assistance from other machines. Hence, in most instances, the design can be completed and printed within hours.
2. Wide Range Of Applications
Another advantage of rapid prototyping is the wide range of applications it can be used for. This makes prototyping a versatile and well-loved technology across different kinds of products and models to be created.
Some of these applications include:
- Proving the prototype created is workable and economically feasible to the manufacturer
- Creating a prototype that’s able to strike the perfect balance with aesthetics and functionality
- Providing concept creators with a chance to review their ideas and the rationale behind it
Rapid prototyping opens various opportunities to manufacture new products as its innovation creates a different dimension in production design.
3. Affordable
Apart from speed, cost is another area wherein businesses regularly strive to be more efficient. No one wants to waste company resources since money is an asset to be preserved and spent wisely.
On average, rapid prototyping can cause significantly less than the manufacturing processes used for prototyping. In the past, previous processes are used for creating prototypes. However, CNC machining had so many costs associated with completing the final product, procuring materials, and running the machine.
With rapid prototyping, these expenses are scrapped off. The process is shorter, so there’s less to maintain and pay for. The printer automatically prints the file sent to it, along with the corresponding machine interpreting the CAD data model.
4. Creates Different Prototypes
Rapid prototyping is so versatile it can keep up with creating different kinds of versions. Each of these has its respective function and look, but all are essential during the manufacturing process. Moreover, each has its own appearance, materials, and scale.
Here are some kinds of prototypes rapid prototyping can successfully do:
. Proof Of Concept
This is the kind of prototype that tests the design function of a product even without its full functionality yet. Through this, a determination can be made whether or not the materials and the products can perform as well as they should.
. Working Prototype
This supports and gives functionality like a finished product, but without the aesthetics yet of the final design. This helps determine whether or not a final product can function as it should.
. Functional Prototype
This looks and functions like the final product already, but the only difference is the production using slightly different materials on a different scale to save costs.
5. Ability To Test Full Range Of Designs
With the use of rapid prototyping techniques, a full range of designs can now be tested. Whatever limitations manufacturers had in the past are now addressed and solved. Most importantly, this testing isn’t just readily available, but also more cost-efficient and less time-consuming to produce.
For instance, with rapid prototyping, engineers can now test and create designs that wouldn’t be possible with sheet metal fabrication or CNC machining, especially if specialized tools needed were unavailable. To complete it, there’d be a need for procurement of these materials. This isn’t budget-friendly to the company.
Engineers now have a wider range of testing before creating the final design through creating prototypes with different sets of part geometries. In this way, a better understanding of the trade-off between aesthetics and function can be achieved.
6. Increased Customer Involvement
With rapid prototyping, customer involvement is also improved. This means there’s higher chance clients are going to end up satisfied right away after seeing the final model that had several versions prior. The need for revisions, which are costly and time-consuming, is significantly reduced.
Because clients are getting more stringent with the quality of their products, so many now want to feel involved every step of the way. This includes the minute and intricate details of their products. With prototyping, this user involvement is made possible as clients can now interact with a working model of their final project.
Most importantly, if there’s anything the client wants to be changed, immediate feedback can be sorted out. The revisions can be easily completed in the prototyping procedures before a final product is released.
Conclusion
Rapid prototyping has become an essential part of the design engineering process. This is because of its indisputable effectiveness in coming up with more accurate designs efficiently. With the benefits enumerated, it’s now easier to understand how this big change in manufacturing and production line is worth the expense your business will undertake.
Rapid prototyping can solve all challenges in the past through the creation of models when coming up with concepts. This would ensure that the best version is produced and the expectation of clients are met.