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RAPID MANUFACTURING: RM and the medical world.

Article Excerpt
After a timid start with polymer products made by rapid prototyping systems, rapid manufacturing uptake has grown fast over the past ten years with the typical introduction curve of disruptive technologies says Dr Max Ruffo, AMRC with Boeing.

Early researchers and users believed that Rapid Manufacturing 'would allow the making of anything, any where, any time; the technology will sweep away any other manufacturing method; and it will happen in 2-5 years.' This hasn't happened, but the RM fans weren't 100% wrong; the potential is still there, waiting to release its energy in a large scale uptake (not large enough to sweep away anything else, though). RM has been proving itself in some low-volume high-value applications - starting with special artefacts enabled by the design freedom prompted by the additive layer method and the absence of tooling.

Research institutions began to push the technology into the automotive world, approaching and (sometimes) solving a long series of technical issues before confronting the main business case. RM 'sneaked' into some automotive applications, and I believe that many MG-Rovers are still on the road with some Selective Laser Sintered spring retainers in the front suspensions, a brilliant solution in...