Implementing concurrent engineering through rapid prototyping and manufacturing - an NSF-funded project

Abstract

The manufacturing sector in the U.S. has applied tools, strategies, and philosophies to reverse declining trends in the global marketplace in an attempt to improve productivity, flexibility, time to market, product quality and reliability, and to reduce costs. Concurrent engineering has been successfully deployed to achieve all of the preceding benefits and has attracted significant attention. Concurrent engineering may be defined as the design of the entire lifecycle of a product simultaneously using a product design team and automated engineering and production tools. The definition covers two important factors, people and equipment, with emphasis on their interdependence upon each other.