Newspaper Publishings

Look Before You Mould
As Published in The Financial Express dated 07 Sep 1998

New innovations need large amount of R&D expenditure and the chances that the end product may not be up to the specific requirements are high. To do away with such unwanted expenditure, prototype is made for the purpose of verifying the form, fir and functional aspects of the part or an assembly. This enables the designer to be confident of the design before costly tools are manufactured.

Rapid Prototyping has been introduced in mid-80's in USA. The parts produced have been used for developing tools by way of investment casting, epoxy moulding, spray metals etc. Variety of plastics or metals can be produced depending upon the process followed e.g. Injection moulding, press/vacuum forming, sand casting etc.

Various Industries have benefited from prototypes and this include automotive aerospace, medical implants & instruments, toys, electrical goods, electrical switchgears, consumer durables, furniture, packing etc. It is beneficial as it not only reduces costs but also valuable time required to develop a new product.

Advances in the field of Computer Aided Design (CAD) has further added value to this technology and prototypes are now made at a faster rate. Protosys Technologies Private Limited is the first commercial organisation offering such a service in India.

Protosys uses 3D CAD models and converts it into a prototype sample within few hours. Claims S J Bakshi, Director, Protosys Technologies Pvt. Ltd., "Protosys save time and cost for the manufacturer before he goes for commercial production.