Rapid manufacturing

摘要

Rapid Manufacturing is a new concept for compressing the time-to-market of products. Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Tooling are the key enabling technologies behind Rapid Manufacturing. The paper starts with a classification of existing Rapid Prototyping processes and a brief description of those processes that currently have a significant commercial impact or are expected to be in such a position in the near future. A review of indirect and direct methods for Rapid Tooling then completes the paper.