INTRODUCTION TO RPD METHODOLOGIES

Rapid Product Development (RPD) defines an industrial culture that promotes the development of new products and design for production, in scales of time more abbreviated possible.

This culture uses new technologies to promote the time reduction, besides the use of 3D, CAD-CAM, Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Tooling, Simulation and the use of Administration Techniques that activate the industrial process.

The use of Rapid Product Development not only allows the industry placing in production new products in a summary scale of time, as well as they reduce significantly the costs of development of new products.
Companies all over the world consider these extremely beneficial techniques and they are ever-increasing adopting the methodologies into a growing rate. From great Multinationals to small SME, the benefits of RPD have attained immense success.

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KEYSTONES

The Rapid Product Development Technology improving product development efficiency in manufacturing industry has increased competence in product development across a wide front in all industry segments and created a strong background of interdisciplinary research expertise.

The latest technologies and methods for improving product development processes have been piloted and taken into use within the scope of those researches. Consequently a considerable competitive improvement has been achieved in comparison with previous processes.

While proceedings are generally intended by promoting product development, some particular researches has concentrated on examining the method corporate product development can be carried out in the most effective and productive promising method. How virtual or real prototypes of new product ideas can be conveyed into real product more quickly than before, how new products can be tested at the initial possible stage and how the commercial end products can be put on the market as rapidly and cost-effectively as possible.

The Rapid Product Development researches operate at the very crucial point by putting the results into practice, and the arrival of new products on the market has been improved and higher-quality products can be manufactured at lower cost.

The rapidity, quality, lower costs and networking, are the keystones of modern product development. Time is the most important success factor in product development today; the companies that gets their new product on market first is the one that does best. The ability of companies to network has become the most important sign of product development results.

The interdisciplinary nature of the RPD is well illustrated by the spectrum of different fields of activity of the technologies and knowledge involved from consumer goods, telecommunications and electronics, machinery and metals industry, construction, software, health care products, plant manufacturing, industrial automation and many fields of technology and process industry as well.

The RPD projects application covers the different stages of product development from identifying customer needs to testing prototypes, within the scope of the company projects, product development processes, lifecycle and environment.

Effective cooperation between industry and the research community have been achieved in many areas connected with product development and consequently the standards of research in this field have been increased. The process generated new knowledge, applied the latest technology across a broad front and produced commercial services, software and technologies for improving product development.
The effects of the results may be seen more extensively in company activities in the last ten years, since improved processes, methods and tools are taken into wider use in the development of products.

RPD - Rapid Product Development technologies are interlinked and directly interdependent of the new RP – Rapid Prototyping and RT – Rapid Tooling technologies.

See the complete section, with videos and links to the principal technology developers, machines, equipments and raw materials.

These technologies are indispensable to the current industry and they involve the whole next future competitive role of the industry.

RP - Prototipagem Rápida - Seção
RT - Ferramentaria Rápida - Seção

Scheme right RPD – Rapid Product Development - (Fig 1)

a. Initial design concepts and ideas

b. Focussing on the high levels of functionality and aesthetics requirements for the various stages of testing, assembling and marketing.

c. Design created in 3D CAD and subsequently translated into 3D data.

d. Prototypes produced for form, fit and functional testing.

e. Further design modifications as required.

f. Final design, full production tooling and manufacture proceedings.

g. Product launch and release into the market place