Author: by Ronald L. Hollis, Ph.D., P.E.
Intended for: Designers, engineers, business leaders, procurement leaders, executives and educators.
Published: August 2007
Number of Pages: 218
Format: Softback
You must get your products to market faster, cheaper, and better! Currently, there is a void in the marketplace for a book that educates business leaders about critical information on currently available product development technologies. With knowledge, these technologies can be implemented into the product development process to get products to market faster as well as reduce development budgets. Better Be Running! is the book is to help fill that void.
Unfortunately, it is very common for engineers today to lack an understanding of how their virtual Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model actually becomes a real part through manufacturing. Many engineers don’t know injection molding from blow molding. This kind of ignorance increases the chances that a company will spend millions of dollars on a product that cannot be manufactured, or worse, costs hundreds of times more than it should.
Many have heard of the rapid prototyping (RP) technologies, such as SLA, FDM, and SLS, and most think they understand how urethane parts are cast and CNC parts are made. Most have or will have experience with injection molding, either for pre-production or production, and every developer today has to understand the world of China and how it fits in the manufacturing strategy. With the aid of this book, the guessing can stop, and everyone can have the knowledge to properly and efficiently develop products with these latest technologies and strategies.
This book has been written with a fresh approach to providing the reader with technical information by making it understandable, relevant, applicable, candid, and even fun. The goal is to share the strengths, limitations, benefits, and best applications of product development technologies and strategies. With this information, the reader will be able to drive the performance to get new products to market faster, cheaper and better!
This will be the most unique technical book you will read! It uses a hybrid presentation of information as well as parable. We present information in a tale about Johnny Quickparts, a geeky yet humble engineering hero who can always save the day with his knowledge. Just reading the adventures of Johnny is fun and educational. From his early designs to his first experiences in China, Johnny is an asset every product development team needs.
In the competitive world of today, the complacent and inefficient will quickly die and everyone else had better be running hard to stay alive. This is particularly true in the US, where we have continued to lose our competitive edge in the global market. The last bastion of product development is innovation, and so the US must figure out how it can maintain its innovative leadership position without control of the critical ingredients of product development including design, manufacturing, and distribution. This book serves as a wake-up call to the product development community about their risk, and presents valuable tools that can help them continue to lead.
The book serves the world of product development and reminds the reader that all products are an assembly of custom parts and pieces, so if you can master the accumulation of these parts easily, then success is more certain. From discussing the changing world where outsourcing is the norm and the supply chain is global, we dive deep into which manufacturing processes can be applied to have the greatest effect. Whether you need to produce one unit for your marketing study or one million for your biggest customer, this book shows which processes, technologies, and strategies are critical to drive success.
We work through the many processes that can be applied to get the parts you need and conclude with a powerful strategy that combines the resources of China and the innovation of the US to succeed. With a review of the business of product development and how it relates to the reader’s world with options, threats, and challenges, we begin our journey by stepping through the currently proven manufacturing processes used for the 21st century.
Each chapter provides the reader with real-world information that can be used to positively affect their product development. Many of these opportunities include industry trade secrets that empower the reader and stir the emotions of traditional manufacturers. Better Be Running! will expand your horizons by breaking down the wall between engineering and manufacturing through re-grouping the currently disparate processes.
Some key differentiators in this book include being:
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UNDERSTANDABLE- Useful technical information is provided that does not require a Ph.D. in engineering to understand and can easily be applied by designers, engineers, buyers, managers, and even executives.
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APPLICABLE- The reader learns how to apply these processes to their product development strategy.
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IMMEDIATE- Real ways to reduce development budgets are provided, including secrets to save money and time.
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CANDID- The good and bad of the product development world is discussed, including manufacturing in the US and China.
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FUN- A non-technical description of very technical topics is provided so they can be applied by the engineers, buyers, managers, and even executives. We have also removed the typical technical case study and replaced it with stories about our engineering hero, Johnny Quickparts, who always saves the day.
The chapters include:
Chapter 1- Everything Matters: The Business of Product Development Technologies
Chapter 2- Stereolithography (SL): The Lion's Share in Rapid Prototyping
Chapter 3- Selective Laser Sintering (SLS): Powder to the People!
Chapter 4- Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM): Two Nozzles Are Better than One
Chapter 5- Casting and Cutting: Piecing Together the Masterpiece
Chapter 6- Low Volume Injection Molding (LVIM): To Bridge or Not to Bridge..that is the Question
Chapter 7- Production Plastics: The End and the Beginning
Chapter 8- Business on Purpose: The Garden of Gold and Good
Innovation is the last hope for the US to maintain our economic super power capability. We have lost manufacturing and are losing engineering design. This will be a major challenge for the US product development community during our generation and will require heroics by many to stay alive. This book will empower our future heroes with the knowledge they need to succeed.
