How to save money when creating a physical prototype?
The typical product development journey is littered with prototyping. Particularly, physical prototyping. Here at R3NDER, we believe that before you start prototyping, you should think about why. Why are you prototyping?
Usually, there are three types of answers to that question.
I want to find out how my design will physically look like.
I want to test my design and figure out how it might work when built.
I want to use the prototype as a communication tool when meeting with focus groups or investors.
We don’t think that prototyping will be the right solution for neither of those requirements. Firstly, because with a rough prototype, you are going to need a high level of imagination to understand what your final design is going to look. Unless you spend a lot of money in your early-stage prototyping, you will not establish that final design. It is very expensive to get a product that looks like it is ready for market from simple 3D printing.
Secondly, if you want to test your design, you will be amazed about what options are available now through virtual modelling or Finite Element Analysis (FEA). If you wanted to test the tolerances within a product to see how strong they were, for example, you could do that artificially these days. You don’t need to build the product physically.
Alternatively, if FEA is not a good option for you, you can prototype only the section of the product you want to figure out if it works, rather than the whole thing.
The future of prototyping
Did you know you can display, communicate and test your product without even building it at all? By using FEA and digital twinning, you can develop a product with less investment and two thirds quicker than in a traditional product development process.
In addition to that, you would be a hero for saving the environment during the product development process. 25% of wastage is caused by unwanted prototypes, according to Filamentive.