Rapid Prototyping for Assembly Training and Validation

Rapid prototyping refers to a group of techniques that are used to fabricate a model of a physical part layer-by layer directly from a computer aided design file. It has been widely used in several domains to accelerate, check and validate product design, and implementation of product. However, little work has been dedicated to the use of rapid prototyping technology in manufacturing assembly validation and training. This paper presents guidelines for using rapid prototyping in manufacturing assembly. A case study is designed to validate the design and implementation of an assembly product made of subparts, and to validate the assembly and human operator training processes. Rapid prototyping technology is applied successfully for assembly process planning.