Rapid Product Development in the USA, Europe and Japan

Abstract

Reviews, for the USA, Europe and Japan, the current state of development and application of rapid prototyping techniques and their impact on time‐to‐market for new products. These techniques, which are still undergoing rapid development, have already had a dramatic effect on reducing the time‐to‐market for new products by between 60 per cent and per cent and on reducing the cost‐to‐market by between 40 per cent and 70 per cent. Concludes that although the US is ahead of the rest of the world in terms of depth of experience and range of techniques, Europe and Japan are catching up fast in terms of experience and applications. Gives guidelines for the managers of manufacturing companies on the importance of the techniques, the selection of the most appropriate system and how to obtain most of the techniques adopted.