Traditionally, the uncertainties associated with the development of plastic injection moulded components resulted in a product development cycle of design, built and break. This sequential process adds considerable time and cost which in today’s marketplace can be more detrimental than beneficial. Over the past ten years it is estimated that approximately 2800 different combinations of tools have emerged which can help eliminate these problems. The research study contained hereunder identifies the most suitable of these tools which can be applied to the design and manufacture of such components and proposes an alternative product development cycle. The proposed cycle begins at the Design for Manufacturability phase, where the customer requirements are fully integrated into the design at the earliest possible stage. Following this is the design phase, which utilizes both Computer Aided Design and Engineering technique’s to create a detailed product designs and virtually test them. Rapid Prototyping and Tooling procedures are also adopted to create functional prototypes from the end run material which can be tested using Accelerated Testing procedures. These six phases of this cycle are presented and examined, through action research and case studies. Adopting such an approach has the potential of considerably improving the quality of any new injection moulded component and reducing both the time and cost associated with its development. Costs incurred through the application of these alternative tools and implementation of this new product development cycle can be regarded as being negligible when compared with the overall development of the product.
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