Rapid Prototyping for Entrepreneurs
Being an inventor or entrepreneur is to some extent a disease; your idea or dream can become a nightmare seemingly take over your life robbing you of precious time, money your sanity and other items we wont approach in this post.
For many inventors and entrepreneurs at least half the battle revolves around getting their concept, idea or product into a tangible form that allows others to see, touch, feel and interact with their idea. In today’s world there are many services, and process to help translate what an entrepreneur sees into a physical product. By far my favorite and most cost-effective way to create physical models is through a process called Rapid Prototyping. Rapid Prototyping is a fairly easy concept to comprehend. In short, rapid prototyping is a process by which manufactures can quickly produce low volume runs of physical products or prototypes for testing and evaluation. Before any idea or product can be rapid prototyped you will need to create a three dimensional model using CAD or computer aided design that allows the three dimensional printer to know what to print, how much to print, and in what shapes to print. The most common form of CAD software is SolidWorks, most mechanical engineers (ME) or product designers will be fluent with this software which is a huge positive because it allows for changes to be made between different designers or engineers without the costly need to translate the design files between different pieces of software.
With the advent of three-dimensional printing, rapid prototyping has never been easier or cheaper. If you are an entrepreneur like myself this should be music to ears; let me explain why. A couple of years ago a business mentor once told me that running a successful business is “ten percent vision and ninety percent execution”. The same is true with bringing a product to market. It is fairly easy to imagine a product or application that would be a huge success on the market today, but creating a working model is a completely different story; and in that paradox the beauty of rapid prototyping becomes evident. What makes rapid prototyping so important to entrepreneurs is that it allows us to create physical products without the typical cost or time requirements. Furthermore, the ability to quickly and cheaply create physical models that can be used to showcase your idea might be the difference between your businesses going bankrupt or hitting that million mark in sales point.
Lastly, Rapid Prototyping can be extremely helpful in accelerating the prototyping process. For those that are new to the manufacturing and prototyping process, in order to create the mold that you will need to manufacture your product you must first have a completed design. That completed design will only be released after many iterations of your prototype design have been refined. Rapid Prototyping will allow you to move through that process quicker by providing the ability to make changes to your physical product while keeping costs relatively low.
For many inventors and entrepreneurs at least half the battle revolves around getting their concept, idea or product into a tangible form that allows others to see, touch, feel and interact with their idea. In today’s world there are many services, and process to help translate what an entrepreneur sees into a physical product. By far my favorite and most cost-effective way to create physical models is through a process called Rapid Prototyping. Rapid Prototyping is a fairly easy concept to comprehend. In short, rapid prototyping is a process by which manufactures can quickly produce low volume runs of physical products or prototypes for testing and evaluation. Before any idea or product can be rapid prototyped you will need to create a three dimensional model using CAD or computer aided design that allows the three dimensional printer to know what to print, how much to print, and in what shapes to print. The most common form of CAD software is SolidWorks, most mechanical engineers (ME) or product designers will be fluent with this software which is a huge positive because it allows for changes to be made between different designers or engineers without the costly need to translate the design files between different pieces of software.
With the advent of three-dimensional printing, rapid prototyping has never been easier or cheaper. If you are an entrepreneur like myself this should be music to ears; let me explain why. A couple of years ago a business mentor once told me that running a successful business is “ten percent vision and ninety percent execution”. The same is true with bringing a product to market. It is fairly easy to imagine a product or application that would be a huge success on the market today, but creating a working model is a completely different story; and in that paradox the beauty of rapid prototyping becomes evident. What makes rapid prototyping so important to entrepreneurs is that it allows us to create physical products without the typical cost or time requirements. Furthermore, the ability to quickly and cheaply create physical models that can be used to showcase your idea might be the difference between your businesses going bankrupt or hitting that million mark in sales point.
Lastly, Rapid Prototyping can be extremely helpful in accelerating the prototyping process. For those that are new to the manufacturing and prototyping process, in order to create the mold that you will need to manufacture your product you must first have a completed design. That completed design will only be released after many iterations of your prototype design have been refined. Rapid Prototyping will allow you to move through that process quicker by providing the ability to make changes to your physical product while keeping costs relatively low.
