QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

You are here: Home / New Product Development / Prototyping Equipment: 5 Key Uses You’ll Have For It

Prototyping Equipment: 5 Key Uses You’ll Have For It

by

Prototyping is a critical step for anyone developing and bringing a new product to market. for design houses, manufacturing companies, and product developers alike. Let’s explore the differences between prototyping equipment and those used for mass production.

You’ll also learn about 5 key uses of prototyping equipment, including:

  1. Creating functional prototypes to validate concepts and improve design.
  2. Developing visually appealing prototypes to enhance user experience and aesthetics.
  3. Combining look-like and work-like prototypes for comprehensive testing.
  4. Conducting stress testing to ensure reliability and compliance.
  5. Utilizing bridge production runs to meet early demand and maintain trust.

 

If you prefer listening to reading…

Listen to the audio here.

 

Introduction: Prototyping equipment versus production equipment

First, what is prototyping equipment versus production equipment?

The key distinction between prototyping and high-volume production is that production uses high-speed, highly automated machinery to create large volumes of products, whereas prototyping equipment is good for making, say, between 1 and 50, maybe up to 100 pieces, takes a longer time to program, is more manual, and is slower.

Large CNC machining centers may be used with high automation for production, however, smaller ones are used as NC machines for prototyping, where the engineer sets them up manually and rotates the control wheel to position it.

The quality of 3D printing has been coming on rapidly for prototyping but is not really used for mass production yet, with casting and injection molding favored. (00:00)

 

The importance of in-house prototyping equipment

When you have the design engineers interacting with prototyping equipment and testing its limits and so on, it makes them more aware of the constraints in mass production and leads to a better product design overall.

When it comes to DFM (Design For Manufacturing) allowing the designers and the developers to use and create early-stage prototypes will allow them to understand the features that can be used in production to make life easier from the assembly point of view as well as disassembly in some cases.

Making iterations using new design changes at this stage using in-house equipment allows prototypes to be quickly made and tested and reduces the risks associated with going straight into fabricating tooling at great expense without validating the design. (08:26)

 

1. The Importance of Functional Prototypes.

People use prototyping equipment to start making functional prototypes which might, at an early stage, be something as simple as a hacked-together proof-of-concept prototype. It doesn’t look good and probably doesn’t include all functions, but it allows us to validate some of the key functionality so we know we’re going in the right direction with the product. Until we create something tangible, product specifications are merely theoretical. Using such a prototype surfaces problems that can then be solved and refined in the feasibility study and subsequent design iterations. Note, that the prototyping and testing done at this stage may not be the full product, either, it may be just one one or more modules of the product, such as a hinged area with an intricate design that we need to make sure works properly. (13:26)

 

2. Designing Look-Like Prototypes.

Next, you may start to work on what people call look-like prototypes which show the product’s aesthetics. But it’s more than just looks, this kind of prototype is also about what kind of materials are used, how the user feels when seeing and touching the product, and so on. There will also be a focus on dimensions and tolerances, as we make sure that the product fits together properly (which is about both its inside and outside).

Even look-like prototype products may not be ‘perfect’ because of the technologies involved. For example, 3D printed parts probably need to be finished off by hand and painted to reach the color and finish, but they may still not be as sharp and crisp as injection molded production versions; therefore, expectations need to be tempered.   (18:29)

 

3. Stress Testing Prototypes.

Product durability and compliance are important for both businesses and users, as products that do not reach expectations of either may be unusable, unsafe, or both, and could be banned from sale, or, worse, end up causing harm to people. Prototypes can be useful to check that a product will be reliable and compliant with regulations, but at this stage they should be closer to a production model, using the same processes and materials, as otherwise, the tests will not validate the real products in users’ hands. A 3D-printed prototype using a totally different plastic would be unlikely to pass testing and get certified, and even if it did it would apply to production models.

For instance, with injection-molded products it may still be possible to use production materials and create real almost production-level enclosures (maybe some textures and finishes may be little different to injection molded) without using final production mold tooling if we use freeform injection molding. These dissolvable molds will last for one to a few shots and can use production-intent materials (plastics, silicone, or other materials), unlike 3D printing for example, and then they just dissolve away. As long as you are happy with tolerances etc, there’s no reason why you could stress test these prototypes for reliability and compliance as they would more-or-less the same as production aside from the tooling used.  (32:02)

 

4. Bridge Production Runs.

Using prototyping equipment to make a smaller bridge production run/s of, say, 50 to 500 products or so will keep the wolf from the door if you have large customers or crowdfunding backers clamoring for products as your launch date approaches. It is key to note that product launches can often run over and be a little delayed, so if this is the case, this scenario is more likely. However, what you don’t want to do is rush the end of the NPI process as mistakes can still be made that could affect product quality and reliability once it is in production. So, typically after the product design has been locked, you may use prototyping equipment to produce this small quantity at a higher price per unit which leaves you with perhaps little margin, but does build trust with your suppliers. Many products use mainly off-the-shelf parts, so it’s feasible that you can produce a relatively small number of custom parts in this way to build the products even if it is more manual and takes longer. As you move into mass-production, of course, this becomes unfeasible and you would use more automation and, perhaps, different equipment or processes to handle the large volumes of products to be made. (43:45)

 

5. Utilizing Prototyping Equipment for Production Tooling.

Prototyping equipment can also be used late on in as we reach production to produce fixtures and jigs and things like that that need to be put in place on the assembly line and so on. For example, a 3D printer can create a simple jig that holds a part in place for the operator to work on or presents it to them in a certain way.

It may also be used to support logistics, producing dunnage to pack products with like pre-cut foam or blister packs, etc.

3D printing is especially helpful here due to the volume of different jigs and fixtures being used on an assembly line, and compared with CNC-machining them, it is a less costly and time-consuming option, as well. (44:43)

 

Content related to prototyping