Rapid prototyping and manufacturing benchmarking

Abstract

In Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing (RP&M) benchmarking, it is not only necessary to standardize the design of the benchmark part, but also the fabrication and measurement/test processes. This research presents issues on RP&M benchmarking and attempts to identify factors affecting the definition, fabrication, measurements and analysis of benchmark parts. The aim is to develop benchmark parts and benchmarking procedures aimed at performance evaluation of RP&M processes/materials in terms of achievable geometric features and specific functional requirements. The RP&M benchmarking design and study will contribute to the development of the planning and decision support software for RP&M processes. A methodology for RP&M process benchmarking using six-sigma tools is proposed. Case studies have been presented for both performance evaluations of selected RP&M processes and process benchmarking. Finally a methodology for fuzzy decision support based on the benchmarking results has also been developed and a web-based RP&M decision support system has been implemented.