Rapid tooling offers the potential to slash product development times from months to weeks or days. It also offers real opportunities to cut the overall costs of a product launch and considerably increase the chances of its commercial success.

This one-day conference aimed at mould-makers, designers and processors focused on ways to cut development times and increase product success. Experts with considerable experience of using rapid tooling techniques provided an in-depth insight into the full range of rapid tooling options.

List of Papers

The Commercial Implications of Generic Rapid Tooling
Lee E.J. Styger, ARRK Product Development Group, UK

Rapid Tooling Options Compared
David Wimpenny, Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick, UK

The Future for Rapid Tooling
Neil Hopkinson, Rapid Manufacturing Group, UK

Rapid Tooling Keeps Ford Racing Puma on Track
Nick Osborn and John Tampkins, Swift Technologies Limited, UK and Tickford Vehicle Manufacturing, UK

Prototype or Production
D. Innocent and Philip Kilburn, TRW and Materialise, UK

Hybrid Moulds for Producing Representative Large Automotive Parts
Mario Neijts, Kupron Prototypes BV, Netherlands

Production Tooling for Rapid Manufacture
Kenny W. Dalgarno, School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, UK

Production Tooling in a Prototype Timeframe
Mike Kelly, 3D Systems Europe Limited, UK

Batch-Size Optimized Production Becomes Affordable
Dietmar Frank, EOS GmbH, Germany

Getting to Market with Rapid Cut Tooling
Jeff Kaczperski and Donald Verrier, Omega Plastics, UK

The EP250 Rapid Prototype Tooling System
Bob Bennett, MCP Equipment, UK