Rapid prototyping = rapid time to market.

This reading focused a lot on how new technologies can help big manufacturers reduce both time and money spent on printing their pieces. With their former method (SLA) they had to send their digital parts to an external provider, which had to deal with other requests, making the process a bit slow, wasting time. We all know time is money.

Since FDM is a lot cheaper, big companies can acquire their own printer and can produce pieces faster. They can print, check for mistakes and easily repair them after physically viewing were they went wrong and how best to proceed. I DO have my doubts about the sustainability in this manufacturing process. They never specify what happens to failed printed models. Can we reuse the material that has been already printed, or is it just waste? During the process, is there a lot of material that goes to waste without even being used?

Another important matter mentioned in the reading is the ability to now print more precise and complex models. FDM machines use different printing materials for the pieces itself and another one for the supporting parts. These are water-based, so when the prototype is washed with water, the supporting material dissolves, leaving the piece as it was originally meant to be. I believe this is one of the best innovations for rapid prototyping I’ve read about. In my opinion, it’s simply genius.