In recent years, the automotive industry has flourished. In 2022, the market size of nearly $3.7 trillion. At the same time, the global rapid prototyping manufacturing market reached USD 491 million in 2021 and is expected to touch a whopping $1.4 billion in 2028. The good news is that there is a significant overlap between rapid prototyping and the automotive industry, which means that prototypes are extremely popular in the automotive industry.
However, the automotive industry also faces some challenges in designing new car models, which need to be addressed urgently for the better development of the industry. In this article, let’s discuss these challenges and how to solve them. In addition, we can also learn about rapid prototypes' benefits and their applications in the automotive sector.
The issues faced by the automotive industry are as follows:
Design of complex parts
The designing of a complex part is much more difficult because industries need to keep all the engineering demands in mind to craft flawless products at the micro level.
High cost of molding
Molding is a widely employed phenomenon in the automotive industry, more than 90% of the parts need to rely on molding. In the automotive manufacturing, the cost of mold development and application is relatively high, so it is necessary to control its costs reasonably in order to reduce the actual manufacturing costs and improve the actual economic benefits.
High accuracy requirements
The automotive parts have high accuracy in its calculations and implementations. It is always essential to take care of materials, dimensions and designs.
Quick developing cycle
Due to high demand and constant pressure from customers, designers face the stiff challenge of completing the development cycle quickly. A product development cycle generally involves designing, automotive prototyping, testing, manufacturing, and marketing.
Actually, the above problems can be easily solved by a simple technique, that is rapid prototyping. Using this technology, it is easy to design parts and test them before releasing the product on the market.
How Rapid Prototyping Solves These Challenges
Ability to deal with complex parts
Rapid prototyping manufacturing adopts processing methods, including CNC machining, rapid sheet metal fabrication, reaction injection molding, and vacuum casting, which allow you to build complex parts of an automobile, like an engine, steering system, etc.
Cost-effective
Rapid prototypes make the auto part manufacturing process efficient and fast, which is better than traditional methods. Some automobile engineers and designers face the challenge of creating a flexible design.however, rapid prototyping enables them to create functional components with custom details.
Allowing function testing
The prototype reflects exactly how your product looks and operates. Testing and retesting provide opportunities to fine-tune your ideas and turn them into the winning designs that are most likely to succeed. Does it offer a sound user experience? Does it achieve your goals? At this point, you can uncover the features that need a little more work and identify potential areas for expansion.
Faster production
Rapid prototyping accelerates the product development cycle. the manufacturer can use this techniques to build a model and test it immediately. Then modify it according to customers requirements. Prototyping is now crucial for the automotive sector to design parts within a short period. Moreover, innovative prototyping helps maintain the best quality of the products.
Conclusion
Rapid prototyping for the automotive industry has become the best solution. By choosing rapid prototyping, the client can reduce the design-to-production timeline from months to weeks, pay 2-10 times less for prototypes, and test new materials, component geometries, and possibilities for the engineering project.
HordRT has supported rapid prototyping manufacturing and low-volume production for many years. And with over 20 years of experience, we have delivered over 1 million prototypes in more than 500 industries, which makes us one of the best rapid prototype manufacturers out there.
