Rapid Prototyping
Rapid Prototyping is a faster easier way for a company to design a product and see a 3-D model of what that product will look like. By using CAD designing to develop a product on the computer, a rapid prototyping machine can produce a model of what the product will look like in some sort of cheap material such as wax quickly and easily. By being able to develop an actual model of what your product will look like, and possibly any development problems that may come down the line. Because a company can see what the product will look like and test it's desirability it gives a better idea of what they need then just describing a new product.
One company that produces rapid prototyping machines is Helisys Inc. which designs, develops, and manufactures systems and supplies for rapid-prototyping. Helisys produces it's rapid-prototyping machines with their patented Laminated Object Manufacturing technology. This technology uses lasers to cut away cross sections of the material away one at a time, to complete the design of the product produced through a CAD system with such materials as paper, plastic film, and composite materials. Helisys currently produces LOM-1015Plus and LOM-2030H with prices from $100,000 to $300,000.
Helisys has sold to many companies universities, government labs, and services bureaus including several in the automobile industry, Boeing, Hughes and Rubbermaid. By using the combination of CAD systems and the LOM technology, it reduces time and effort needed to produce these complex models, lowering the costs of these design processes. Right now Helisys is the market leader in sales and installation for rapid prototyping systems that use sheet materials.