RAPID PROTOTYPING

A FRAMEWORK FOR THE ADOPTION OF RAPID PROTOTYPING FOR
SMEs: FROM STRATEGIC TO OPERATIONAL

Rapidly changing global markets, unprecedented increase in product flexibility requirements and shorter product life cycles require more efficient technologies that can help reduce the time to market, which is considered to be a crucial factor to survive in today’s highly volatile market conditions. Rapid prototyping technology (RPT) has the potential to make remarkable reductions in the product development time. However, its fast development pace combined with increasing complexity and variety has made the task of RPT selection difficult as well as challenging, resulting in low diffusion particularly at SME level. This paper systematically presents (i) Low RP adoption issues and challenges (ii) Importance of
SMEs and the challenges they are facing to highlight the magnitude of the problem (iii) Previous work in the area of technology selection and adoption and finally offers an adoption framework which is exclusive for the adoption of RP technology by considering the manufacturing, operational, technology and cost drivers for a perfect technology fit into the business. Significance:

Rapid Prototyping (RP) exhibits unique characteristics and can have potential impact on all business functions, which demands a methodological approach for the evaluation and adoption of the technology.
The main focus of this study is to propose a framework that facilitates the RP adoption from strategic to operational level to ensure complete and effective implementation to obtain the desired objectives, with a special emphasis on SMEs.

Keywords:

Rapid prototyping, Technology adoption, SMEs, Technology Selection, Competitiveness
(Received 3 June 2011; Accepted in revised form 18 September 2011)

1. INTRODUCTION
The changes in the global economic scenario have posed considerable threats to many companies, especially SMEs as they strive to stay competitive in world

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