Rapid Manufacturing Research Group (RMRG), Loughborough University, UK.
Rapid Manufacturing's role in Design Optimisation and
Customisation
Dr Richard Hague, Dr Chris Tuck and Mr George Raymond
Rapid Manufacturing presents enormous opportunities and challenges to the way that products are designed, manufactured and distributed. The absence of tooling for example will enable designers to manufacture whatever they choose. Significantly, this removal of tooling also presents interesting opportunities in design optimisation and design customisation. This paper documents two applications of Rapid Manufacturing in the optimisation and customisation of components; these applications have been derived in order to benefit business and the user alike. The first example shows a common automotive component, it's redesign and improvement that is only applicable when Rapid Manufacturing is the production method. Secondly, an introduction to an on-going study is presented that aims to improve aircrew performance through customisation. The appropriateness and advantages of using Rapid Manufacturing are shown and discussed.
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